Arda
by TripWire- dono
Summary: "Tell me love. What do you know of The Grimoire?" Erza and her team, forced to trek across the continent by the hands of their own meddling, rediscover the 'Uncharted Lands' hidden for hundreds of years from the West. They are about to tip over the edge of everything they know... "The world is bigger than you thought, no? You are in for a surprise for what us Eastern Mages can do"
1. Summer Traveler

**Hello again! SORRY FOR THE LATENESS! The Fanfiction site was experiencing downtime for several hours... was totally unable to access it to post my story and it was getting too late in the night and I had to eventually sleep...  
**

 **Some of you readers may have jumped from _'A Touch of Saffron'_ to this story, _'Arda'_ while I'm on my 6 week hiatus (counting down to 5 weeks now I believe). If so, I'm eternally grateful that you are interested reading my Fairy Tail fanfic :) I guarantee that you won't be disappointed! So how this works is that, this story had already been pre-written. I just update it chapter by chapter every Friday for Asia Pacific region and Thursday everywhere else while I'm doing my clinical placement (hospital internship). Basically I won't be doing actual fanfiction writing during my clinical placement.**

 **If you guys are new readers of mine, I am equally grateful that you find the summary interesting enough to read the first chapter :)**

 **Getting back into the swing of things again while running around the hospital. I hope I don't fail this!**

 **Everyone, please enjoy this ride! Lets get started.**

* * *

 _Chapter 1 - Summer Rain Traveler  
_

Raindrops ran down his chin as he jogged across the slippery cobbled pavement, cursing the damned humidity as he went. The lithe figure ducked and weaved past old boxes and rubbish cans with as much accuracy as possible. Many alleyways peppered across the foreign city of Magnolia. Foreign country, foreign city, foreign people and worst of all _foreign weather_.

' _If only I had planned this wretched trip during the winter times. Then I wouldn't have to put up with this stinking heat',_ he internally seethed.

Trekking across the vast peninsula to the West was a mean feat, which to say he was indeed proud of, but he wished all this torrential downpour would be worth it in the end.

Otherwise, how could he face his _family_ if he came back _empty handed_?

Being a seasoned traveler made him flexible and adaptive to using any trick and strategy up his sleeve to immerse himself into the new land. It never failed after the first few years, until he reckoned he was a chameleon by the end. But when he stepped foot into Fiore, shit hit the fan.

What on Earth was his _Patriarch_ thinking…

People of all sizes, shapes and colours living in harmony. There didn't seem to be even a pattern or any commonality he could recognise amongst the populace except for the obvious common language and … smell. It was one giant melting pot of different cultures and people from all walks of life, he concluded that much. So different from traveling on his side of the world where everyone conformed to whatever lifestyle everybody else had in their specific region.

If he had one word to describe Fiore, it was _alive_.

And he stuck out like an angry raincloud. In a literal sense, a storming cloud had made itself comfortable over the town of Magnolia upon his arrival.

He had hoped for a less ostentatious welcome.

He tried to shake the silvery locks from his eyes, plastered by the rain and humidity but to no avail. He crouched low next to a rubbish can. On any other day, it would be a poor decision because the loud metallic pelting of rain would have done his head in. Luckily, his hearing had dulled significantly allowing only the sounds of pitter-pattering to mildly annoy him. His far-sight, hearing and sense of smell were reduced to at least two thirds of their capacity all because of cranky Mother Nature.

His breath hitched.

 _Was that laughter?_

Sure enough, he picked up the muffled sounds of merriment. He sharpened his eyes as much as possible and glared out across the mouth of the dim alley way, drawing his gaze to the right where the noise was coming from. It was probably the most hideous building he had ever laid eyes upon. How could he have missed that…A three tiered castle like structure with a gaudy and loud entrance gate, emblazoned with FAIRY TAIL in its native script. At least he hoped that's _not_ what it said. Information gathering from across the neighbouring country of Bosco and the port town of Hargeon was about eighty percent complaints of a rowdy guild called _Fairy Tail._ According to the rumours there, apparently that infamous guild wasn't something he wanted to encounter.

An orange flag printed with a symbol he didn't know the meaning of, flapped wildly in the wind. They have a steeple bell too? For fuck's sake, should there ever be a piece of architecture like that designed in his home country… get out.

The raucous laughter was definitely coming from that guild building and it did nothing to lighten his dampened mood. His eyes scanned beyond the alley way into the main street, hoping there were other inns or taverns he could spend the night. Disappointment filled him when there were no other.

' _Looks like I have no choice'_.

Clutching his right side, he darted out and made it under the shelter of the front entrance of Fairy Tail. Anything will do to get out of the rain. Did guilds offer accommodation to travelers? He had no idea as he'd been staying at inns and taverns. He could already feel the dry warmth coming from the building.

He grunted.

Running around through the rain took a toll on his old wound. His right side was in a dull ache, reminding him of how he got it: Sparring with his _shishou_. He shook his head vigorously. No time to reminisce now. He trudged forward and pushed open the heavy wooden doors with all his might.

First thing that hit him was ' _Smell'_. The smell of overflowing booze, fatty food and embers.

Second thing that assaulted him was ' _Sound'_. The sound of yelling, cheering, laughter, chugging and whoops and howls all rolled and blended into a monstrous din.

Last thing that returned to him, ' _Sight'_. He had to cover his eyes to soften the bright light from within and allow them time to adjust before slowly lowering his hand. The sight of so many people throwing themselves at one another, brawling with no restraint wasn't exactly what he wanted to encounter. Cheering flowed from spectators surrounding the centre of the entertainment like _nihonshu_ from an upturned bottle.

He scrunched his brow and raked his nimble fingers through silver hair, back against his scalp, not letting any loose strands flop against his face. He most definitely have had enough of this humid rain.

"How about this downpour huh? I assume you will be needing a room for one?"

He flicked his eyes across to a feminine voice addressing him over the loud noises. Her hair colour was similar to his, but thick and wavy, reaching the small of her back. She looked at him with kind and understanding eyes as she gestured him to approach the bar. His own eyes softened and offered a grateful smile with a nod. He shifted his hold on his knapsack and went over.

"Lucky that you came around at this time. We have a special price for this season. What's your name?" She asked.

"Hitsu…" he cleared his throat. "Daisuke Hitsugaya"

"Daisuke Hitsugaya?" She reconfirmed.

"Yes"

The lady took out the registry book from under the table and flipped it over the page marked with a ribbon. Daisuke resumed looking around the large open area. It must be a _'guild hall'_. It was pretty big and open like a barn. He could definitely see the pride they have for themselves with their insignia littering everywhere from banners, to bunting, to posters. The lively noise sounded less intense than what it should have been.

"Guild?" She politely inquired.

"Sorry?" he missed her question and so refocused his attention.

"What guild are you from?"

"Umm… _Arda_ " he mumbled.

The lady tapped her finger against her chin, a quizzical expression on her face. "I'm not familiar with that guild name. Have you got a guild mark?" she asked.

Daisuke procured a folded piece of leather from his inner vest, ignoring the startled look on her face. He flipped it open and showed its contents. The white haired lady looked momentarily surprised before she glanced at it closely and then nodded in satisfaction.

"Funny, I haven't seen those mage ID cards in forever! I don't think anyone uses those anymore. All mages are supposed to have guild marks stamped on their bodies for identification now" she said. "But I'll make an exception for you because of the rain"

"Thanks. I haven't had time to get one, I guess" he replied smoothly. He'd seen one of those tacky guild marks on lots of mages since he arrived in Fiore. Some had them stamped on poorly chosen places to his amusement. He was grateful she didn't turn him away for showing an obsolete ID. The other inns and taverns in Bosco and Hargeon didn't ask for formal identification, but then again, they weren't guild establishments to begin with.

He took a quick peek at it before placing it back in his pocket. It was a picture of his face, name, age, guild name and other details like any other standard ID card from anywhere, except there was no stamp on it. It looked official enough to him.

Daisuke smirked. He knew it was just blank, white paper. Specifically blank, white, _Psychic paper._

Psychic paper tricked the onlooker into seeing _what they expected_. It was one of the few enchanted trinkets he owned. It never failed him and that was exactly why he liked it. The second he pulled out the leather card holder, she must have realised he wasn't going to roll up any part of his clothing to reveal any guild mark. She expected to see a different form of ID and that was what she got. Otherwise, it was just a blank piece of enchanted paper waiting to be flashed at another unsuspecting mage.

"You should get one as soon as you can. All mages in Fiore get them upon initiation and it's so much simpler and safer for identifying themselves on jobs, because we can now store personal details into the guild mark" she lifted the Fairy Tail stamp from under the bar counter to show him.

"Sure" said Daisuke.

The young woman wrote his name in the registry and key label as Daisuke slid over seven thousand Jewel notes for one night. It should be enough. He couldn't help but notice her gaze widening at the sight of the _katana_ on his back. It was a great work of craftsmanship. He doubted she had seen anything like it. Criss-crossed strapped handle and a four-pointed star guard, the sharpest blade one could find sheathed comfortably into the mahogany lacquered scabbard.

He quirked a delicate brow at her.

"My name is Mirajane, if you need anything else please don't hesitate to use the communications lacryma provided in the room or just come on down and I'll be right here. I'll send someone to bring you up a warm meal soon" she beamed at him.

"Ah, I'll remember that. And thank you" he smirked.

She gave him the key and gestured in the direction of the guest accommodations. He looked down at the key and read the name tag. Huh. She misspelt his name. Did his name come out misspelt on the psychic paper too? He didn't notice. Not to worry anyway. His name was of a different tongue. He trudged up the stairs and made a right turn away from the balcony overlooking the noisy guild hall.

* * *

Mirajane hummed quietly.

"What's wrong Mira?" a young girl with violet locks approached the bar, depositing an empty serving tray onto the bar counter. It was rare to see her deep in thought and staring into space.

"I'm curious about the traveling guest I just booked a room for, Kinana"

"Oh I saw him heading to the guest accommodations. He looks kind of cute doesn't he?" Kinana smiled.

Mirajane had to agree, he was quite easy on the eyes but she wasn't into anyone younger than herself. However, the sword grabbed her interest more than she thought it would. Erza would definitely appreciate a weapon as fine as the one he carried. He had a noticeable accent, but she couldn't pinpoint where from. Not to mention the exotic garments. Even she had never seen anything that looked that interesting on her travels during her time as an active mage.

He was wrapped heavily in a red hooded cloak, lined with tessellating patterns of awfully dull colours across the hem. She could barely see anything else beneath his cloak, except a red scarf bunched up at his neck, maybe a tan tunic and a jerkin, with belts and buckles strapped across his chest. His pants were beige and tight against his legs, held up by a tattered teal sash. Probably silk? He wore a thick cord wrapped around his bandaged left hand, wrapped over and over his palm with a large shark's tooth against his wrist.

Aside from the sword, he lugged a knapsack across his shoulder. Obviously more for camping purposes than shopping.

"Where do you suppose he came from?" mused Kinana. "I bet he's from Bosco"

"No, no one wears those kinds of clothes in Bosco. I think he's from a country further than that" replied Mirajane. She continued to wipe freshly rinsed beer mugs and proceeded to line them neatly in the cupboards beneath the bar. It was not often they got visitors from countries other than Bosco or Isvan around here. Most other countries were simply too far.

"I suppose you're right" hummed Kinana. She gave Mirajane a hand in packing away the mugs. It was almost one in the morning and the crowd had already begun to thin out. She waved Juvia, Erza and Lucy a good night as two of the ladies headed to Fairy Hills and Lucy exited the building, no doubt trying to beat Natsu back to her place to put up barricades before he could break in. Now that she thought of it, Mirajane didn't spot Natsu in the guild hall at all this evening. She wondered where he had gone too. She decided to turn back to the conversation and helped Kinana dry the beer mugs.

"I can't get enough of those eyes Mirajane. It's the most brilliant green I've ever seen. He's definitely from Peregrande Kingdom! Clearer than the grade A emeralds from the jewellery market" Kinana chatted away.

"Oh what's this about jewellery?" Macau staggered wearily to the counter, unleashing a wide yawn and sat his butt down onto the bar stool

"Hi Macau. Did you see our new guest who just came from the rain? The one with the snowy white hair and eye's like emerald" Asked Mirajane.

"Those kind of jewels aye? Hmmm, nope too busy getting Elfman off my boy's back. The last thing Romeo needs is to be influenced into extreme body building" he grumbled.

"Haha! It was just a weary traveler" said Kinana,

While Macau and Kinana chatted some more of their day's events, and the guild hall continue to empty out is occupants, the silver-haired woman continued to ponder a bit about who this mysterious traveler was.

Through a quick glance at his hooded eyes when he first came in, she tried to deduce what she could about him. Emotional baggage? No, more like the troubled soul look? No it wasn't quite that. Ahhh! She didn't know. She was always good at picking out people's character with a single glance. Eyes were windows to the soul of course. Why were his windows clouded? That encouraged her to find out who exactly was this person.

' _I almost forgot!'_ The busty woman ran back into the kitchens and grabbed the first bowl in sight and ladled in hearty soup and grabbed two pieces of sourdough bread before it got the chance to turn stale. She walked up the stairs carefully, turning into the guest accommodations are. She made sure she gave him a room all the way down the corridor to escape the noise downstairs. God knew he needed peace and quiet. She balanced the tray with trained expertise and knocked on Mr. Hitsugaya's door.

" _Come in"_

She opened the door slowly and popped her head in, hoping she didn't encroach too much. "Sorry for bringing in your meal a bit late" Mirajane said warmly. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long"

The small fireplace was already lit. His cloak, red scarf and jerkin hung off the back of an armchair right in front of the fireplace to dry, but not too close that anything will catch fire. Mirajane gently sat the tray of steaming soup onto the side table and took the moment to look at Mr. Hitsugaya more closely. Kinana was right. His eyes were a pair of piercing emeralds. His snowy white hair already half dry was messily combed back against his head, save a jagged curtain of hair hanging limply over his left eye. His brows were knitted together in what looked like intense thought and his lips a taut lined against his face. He was staring into the flickering fire. He was definitely weary from traveling but for some reason he wasn't resting on the bed or chairs provided. He held himself as a steady determination of a patient person on a mission. His slender frame leaned casually against the wall next to the window, arms crossed and one leg loosely bent.

He couldn't be more than sixteen years old to her eyes. But Mirajane wouldn't let a youthful face sway her.

"Are you a highly skilled mage?" She smiled, folding the tea towel over her arms.

Mr. Hitsugaya flickered out of his concentration and darted his eyes to her.

"That, I am" he offered a strained smile. To her it looked like a half annoyed, half obligatory smile. "What made you think I was?"

Mirajane gestured towards his sword.

Mr. Hitsugaya gave an impressed smirk. Mirajane smiled pleasantly back. It was obvious to her that he knew, that she could sense the magic pulsing from his sword. Any other average mage wouldn't have notice such a strong but subtle magic. But being Mirajane Strauss, the S-Class demoness of Fairy Tail, she was more sensitive to magic of other mages who were at least on her level.

"So, what brings you to Magnolia?" she asked.

The boy pushed himself off the wall and strode towards her. He bent down and brought the bowl of soup from the table to his mouth. A pleasing look graced his face.

"Fact finding tour" he said, stirring the soup slowly. He was standing right in front of the silvery haired woman and he came only up to her nose.

"That's interesting! Is it part of a job?" she chuckled.

"Well… Not really. It's more for my own benefit" his voice petered out as he busied himself eating.

"I'd love to go traveling again when I have the time, like really explore all the famous sites and immerse myself in the culture of different places. But unfortunately I have a guild to take care of when the Guild Master's gone on business, which is quite often. I don't know when's the next time I can take a relaxing break"

Mirajane chatted away, filling up the void as he ate. She observed his face and glimpsed a small but proper smile. A warm smile. As fast as it appeared, it disappeared into a scowl. He took the bowl and bread and went to sit on the edge of the bed. He began dipping the bread and munched on it.

"What's your guild called again?" she inquired.

"We are called _Arda._ I never expected you to know anyway" he mumbled, leaving the rest of the conversation to die and turned back to eating his soup and bread.

She continued to smile. It looked like he wasn't really the sociable and talking kind. He was a guest after all, so she allowed him to resume his much awaited meal. Mirajane was about to leave the room when he cleared his throat, stopping her in her tracks.

"So uh, is there a town library here?" asked Mr. Hitsugaya.

"Why yes of course!" said Mirajane, "In fact, I would be happy to arrange someone from our guild to give you a bit of a tour".

"No thanks, just a tourist brochure or a pocket travel directory will do" Mr. Hitsugaya finished up his meal and got up to place it back on the tray at the table. This young mage seemed heavily guarded and secretive from his hesitant and tone and carefully constructed sentences. Mirajane guessed that his 'fact-finding tour' was rather serious business.

"Sure, I could get either one for you. What makes you interested in the library of all places in Magnolia?" Mirajane inquired one last time while picking up the tray. She needed to clean these before fully closing up the bar and kitchen.

Mr. Hitsugaya feigned a yawn and stretched his arms above his head, causing his tunic to ride up revealing toned and defined abdominal muscles. Mirajane suppressed a gasp at the sudden glimpse of a large pale scar on his right side. It looked like a monstrous bite mark that could've torn his flesh right off.

"I heard it is a national heritage-listed site. It's been around for a couple of hundred years." he replied, jutting a thumb towards the window in a general direction. He crouched down to unlace his boots and take them off to line them next to the bedside table. Taking her cue to leave as the guest was obviously preparing for bed time, Mirajane gave a slight bow and bade him good night before taking the bowl and tray back downstairs.

* * *

After the door clicked softly shut, Daisuke immediately went and flicked the lock. He pulled out some scrolls and books from his knapsack and threw them on the bed. Normally people couldn't smell their own scent, but boy could he smell his own and he _stank_. It's a wonder how that woman could still stand to be in the same room.

' _I should've taken a shower first if I knew she was going to take her blessed time getting my food up here'_

The "free" meal was probably included in the accommodation price anyway. He hated people entering his room while he was bathing. A bad experience of a pesky guild-mate busting in and ransacking his room while he was stuck naked and hollering from the adjoining shower came to mind. Ever since then, he became very wary of making sure he bathed with no chance of disturbance.

So he waited, basting in his own body odour and grime and endured every minute of it. His sense of smell was keener than most people. Now a shower was definitely due after a full stomach. He opened the bathroom and found it plain, but spotlessly clean. Which was good enough. It didn't need to look luxurious.

After a ten-minute shower, he was feeling blissful and fresh. The aching on his right side definitely lessened, but the rain was still howling away. Slipping on a fresh pair of pants and tunic, he sat on his bed, flipping through the books and unfurling the old scrolls he took out earlier.

He stopped and looked at the communications lacryma provided on the bedside in thought. He reached over and touch its surface, carefully pouring his magic into it, until it's internal glow dimmed into nothing, rendering it into a permanent state of 'turned off'

He couldn't be too careful in a place like this.

Time to get to work.

* * *

A yawn broke through the late morning as a young celestial spirit wizard named Lucy was just awakening from her peaceful slumber. Lucy rubbed the sleep-tears from her eyes and was jolted rudely from her tranquil rise from sleep. What on earth was that dreadful smell? This was _not_ what she wanted to encounter as soon as she woke up. Realisation slapped her in the face.

' _Oh no… don't tell me_ '

It had to be Natsu. Natsu-freaking-Dragneel and Happy! Her mind worked over time to conjure up as many scenarios as to what her doofus of a mission partner and his mangy cat could be doing in her kitchen. She scrambled out of bed at breakneck speed and threw on her bathrobe.

 _BAM!_

"HEY! Numbskulls! What the hell are you doing to my kitchen!" screeched Lucy after she side-kicked her bedroom door open to be greeted by billowing smoke and laughter.

"Oh hey Luce! I made you some brunch!" Beamed her pink haired partner. He thrusted in her face the charred remains of what she believed was once cinnamon toast with a side of salad, the lettuce slightly singed.

' _It's over… my land lady will murder me…'_ Lucy internally sobbed.

"Geez you could at least dress to come down to eat Lucy" yapped a chipper Happy, munching on some mackerel.

Lucy couldn't be arsed about her partners seeing her like this at a critical moment. All she could hear was her rent money dwindling away and wishing.

"Oh my god Natsu! Watch the stove!" Lucy scrambled to the kitchen, switched the dials of the stove off, grabbed the pan handle with her oven mitts and dumped the flaming contents under running tap water.

"Hey! I was tenderly chargrilling that piece of haloumi cheese!" yelled Natsu, he tossed the cinnamon toast and salad on the table and hovered frantically around Lucy, trying to see what had become of his cheese.

"Guys… the last thing I need for you is to burn down my apartment… it's already bad enough the land lady thinks I'm having shady meetings with people in my living room whenever you guys break in…" she whimpered over the sink.

' _No matter what I tell her that it's just these two!'_

"How did you get in anyway? I locked all my doors and windows"

"You didn't lock your air vent" said Happy.

"YOU CRAWLED THROUGH MY _AIR VENT_?!"

Meanwhile, Natsu rubbed the back of his head with guilt and sighed as his two best friends were kicking up more fuss. Lately Lucy had been wound up about something and she was less than willing to share it with her friends _._ Erza had kindly suggested that it was because of the constant slash in their reward money. Whenever they destroyed a town trying to complete a mission they had to pay for collateral damage out of their own pockets. Ipso facto, hitting hard on her monthly rent. Sure it totally made sense, but what gives? Take more jobs or whatever. Or move into Fairy Hills, they're cheap!

But he didn't like seeing his partner looking down in the dumps for too long. Natsu pouted at the wilting salad, realising he probably did more harm than good.

"Sorry Lucy. We just wanted to make it up to you with brunch because you know… we…might have… stuffed up our last mission" he mumbled the last part.

At that moment Lucy stopped in mid-throw with Happy clutched in her fists. Natsu and Happy wanted to make her a haloumi cheese and cinnamon toast apology-meal? She didn't remember buying the haloumi cheese. Where did it come from? Lucy dropped Happy and turned the tap off with her oven mitts still on.

She sighed.

"You didn't have to go through all that just because of one lousy mission! But I appreciate the effort all the same", she gave a half-hearted smile. "However you are totally cleaning the mess you've made! And are not leaving until there is not a square millimetre of stain left in my kitchen, which includes the window sill above the sink!"

"Aye sir!"

Lucy sat at the table and eyed her breakfast suspiciously. It was odd, she also didn't remember buying bread. She always ate fruit in the morning. While listening to the sounds of Natsu and Happy hauling arse in her kitchen, she decided to venture a taste.

' _Yep. Burnt beyond belief'_ she gagged from the burnt bits sticking to the back of her throat..

But she will eat all of it anyway. Because really, she can mostly taste the effort and love of her friends. And salami in her salad?

After two hours of supervising Natsu's and Happy's cleaning she grinned when they collapsed on her couch, reduced to pants and heaving. It was nice to see them using a bit of elbow grease and nose to the grindstone when it came to domestic tasks. It wasn't even that big of a mess and they acted as if they had to fight the Oracion Seis tied up in a straitjacket!

Lucy got dressed in her usual get up. Keys and whip at her hips and a go lucky attitude for the new day.

"I picked up a new mission yesterday, so I'm going on ahead to the Town Library and do a bit of researching. You guys can catch your breath here after I'm gone and then leave my apartment after ten minutes. I'm giving you ten minutes only!"

"Town Library? Why aren't you going to the Guild Archives?" panted Natsu. He slumped back over the couch armrest, clearly too tired to tag along on the mission, which she was super grateful for to say the least.

"Levi and Freed's got it booked for re-organising or something. No one can use it for the next week. I should be able to do my mission preparations in the town library anyway".

Lucy was already out the door. She was relieved to be in the open air. She hopped onto the ledge of the pavement right beside the river as per her usual morning routine and made her way to the town library.

Back at the apartment, Natsu looked over to the table, spying an empty plate of cinnamon toast and the half eaten bowl of salad. He smiled from ear-to-ear and patted Happy. It would have tasted heaps better with the haloumi cheese he bought! He wasn't really cut out for home cooking, but hearing Lucy munching on the cinnamon toast that _he_ made while cleaning was the best feeling in the world.

* * *

Lucy hadn't been in the town library in so long. The only source of books she relied on were the Guild archives and Levi's private collection. Damn that girl had all the best books! But seeing the building up close made her feel a tiny bit of regret for not visiting more often. Unfortunately, Lucy couldn't afford to use up more apartment space for proper bookshelves, let alone a personal library like Levi. Heck, even her team had no trouble rifling through her things to get at her work-in-progress manuscript since there was nowhere to stash it except atop her desk!

She had to admit that it was really last minute for her to research her mission and if she had to be honest, she would have done this weeks in advance. Except, the constant worry over her rent money and her land lady's nagging have been doing her head in. Not only that, housing prices have been steadily increasing over in the north side of Magnolia, meaning in due time her rent money was going to increase. She didn't know when it would be either. Not like there was anything she could do about it anyway. The only solutions to this was to move out and find a cheaper place or actually earn some money without any deductions caused by her block-head of a mission partner. She loved where she lived, so it was definitely earning Jewels.

Stepping into the town library felt as amazing as the first time she was there. Towering shelves of books lined in rows and against the walls. They were sectioned off in non-fiction, fiction, special reference, children's' and multilingual as expected of any library. However, what was unique about this one was that it held a vast and historic collection of Fiorean history all the way from the first settlers. It was only second to the Royal National Library at Crocus. The bookshelves were so tall that a ladder was required. Rows of tables and comfortable chairs were also conveniently added to allow patrons to read what they fancied and do whatever research they wanted. Plus the gorgeous _smell of old books_.

"Long time no see Miss Lucy" cooed a familiar voice.

"Good morning Mrs Bates, how are you and Mr Bates?" Lucy greeted the librarian.

"Well, raising three boys is always hard work. I'm going to look sixty by the time I turn fifty! Hohoho!"

"Whenever you need to knock some sense into them, let me know and I will be there" Lucy winked.

"Oh bless you, child" cooed Mrs Bates.

She walked further into the library, going for the tomes on amulets in the non-fiction section, picking the books she needed like cherries. This was going to be a retrieval mission for a piece of rare but cursed jewellery, commissioned by the Royal National Museum of Fiore. This was definitely up her alley! It had been stolen by a group of black market traders who should be on their way to Isvan. It will take them a long while to reach the next country anyway. Plus the reward money was sweet!

She had difficulty seeing over the top of her head with books piled up in her arms. The next reference book according to her mental list should be around the cor-

 _SCREECH_

"Oof!"

A sudden tug on a random table leg caused her to spill all the books onto the floor with a deafening crash as she dived face first. She felt her pride self-combust. Lucy got up and dusted off her skirt before gathering her research material again. Her face, her leg and everywhere were hurting like a bitch.

' _This is what I get for not paying attention. Stupid Lucy!'_ she berated herself. Lucy looked around to see if anyone saw her and to her utter embarrassment someone did.

A pair of inquisitive, but amused emerald eyes green eyes stared back at her from the seat across the table she tripped on. She blushed crimson.

"Eheh, pretend you didn't see that…"

"No problem" the boy sitting across replied. He got back to doing whatever it was without another word.

' _Great. He was cute too, can my day get any worse?'_ With a sigh, Lucy dumped her books on the next table and proceeded to look for her last reference book which should be just around the corner of the shelf before she tripped up.

It wasn't there. Someone must have checked it out. Who the heck checks out an ancient text on _'Lost Artefacts throughout the Ages'?_ Oh well, she will just have to have a head start on reading what she was able to procure first. The blond celestial mage sat down on the table that was beside the cute, green eyed guy. She slipped on her wind reading glasses and began cruising through the thick tomes.

Two hours and seven books later, her eyes were getting tired. With a yawn, she couldn't help but glance towards the boy on the next table. She read a lot of good information and doubted she was going to need the last book. But getting multiple bruises at the cost of finding it, she was going to hunt down that bloody book and make it worth it.

She took off her wind-reading glasses and looked around to readjust her eyes to the real world and refocused them onto the boy. He was leaning back on his chair with furrowed eyebrows, clearly engrossed in what he was reading. His hair was a silver white slightly spiked and soft against his head, except for some shielding his left eye. She glanced towards the sword that was resting on the table top. It was _long._ Probably reaching her clavicle if she were to stand it up. It was the most interesting design she had ever seen. The handle looked a little similar to one of Erza's swords.

A slight shiver went up her arm. What was this feeling? It felt… otherworldly. Lucy narrowed her eyes at the sword. It felt… familiar. But how and where? She was brought out of her musings from the sound of scratching quill on parchment paper. She looked up and over at the boy now hunched over a piece of parchment, scribing something.

He really was cute, in a roguish way. Studying and all that just made him even more adorable.

She glanced at the other books he had on the table.

' _Lost texts of the world'_

' _History of scholars'_

' _Cicero's Chronicles'_

' _Lost Artefacts throughout the Ages'_

' _Unveiling Magic'…_

Wow. He was doing a lot of heavy research… What! Lucy stood up suddenly, screeching the chair across the floor.

"SHHHH!" an annoyed patron shushed at her.

The boy also jolted his head up, giving her a nasty glare. She trotted over and leaned against the table he was at. He shuffled away from her the best he could, but his eyes ended up settling on her huge knockers.

"Umm… I couldn't help but notice that you've got the book I've been looking for?"

"And?" he deadpanned.

"Do you mind if I just borrow it for a second?" she gave the biggest pleading look she could and pointed to _'Lost Artefacts throughout the Ages'_.

He didn't look fazed to her disappointment. The book also looked like it was sitting on a discarded pile.

"Here, knock yourself out" he said flippantly and held the book to her. Lucy eagerly grabbed the book and slipped on her wind reading glasses once more, letting it do its magic.

Lucy finished cruising through the book in half an hour and strutted over to return the book to the boy. She glanced down to meet his eyes and saw wonder and confusion in the emerald depths staring at her glasses. What? Had he never seen wind-reading glasses before? Granted that they were a bit more pricy that the average magic reading spectacles but they were widely available. Before she could open her mouth and asked what was wrong, he diverted his eyes back onto the parchment, as if pretending he was never distracted.

She looked down to what he was doing and gasped in surprise. That was the most interesting script she had ever seen! Fine swerving lines created the body of the writing. It was beautiful and elegant. What language was the boy writing in? She just had to know! Then she just had to tell Levi!

"Excuse me again. That language you are writing in…?", she smiled excitedly.

The boy looked up. "Hm? Oh, it's Sindarin"

' _SINDARIN?!'_

Lucy was quaking in her boots. _Sindarin_. THE Sindarin was the lost language of the world amongst many others. Only about… _no one_ could read or write the language anymore. It was said to die out along with the ancient it had originated from. Who was this boy? A freaking genius literary scholar or something?

"I've only heard of it! But you know how to write and read in Sindarin? That is so cool" said Lucy.

"I guess so…"

"Where did you learn?" she helped herself to a seat across from him, beaming brightly.

"A friend taught me"

"What kind of friend? Is he a scholar master? Script sorcerer?"

"He's kind of a history book fanatic. Like a _book-man_ I suppose"

"I've love it if you could you teac-"

CRASH!

Lucy was unable to finish her spastic interrogation, when a blast from outside the library shook the building down to its foundations, causing the books to be thrown off the shelves. The sounds of blaring alarm lacryma could be heard all around.

"Dark guild! It's a Dark guild!" A man can be heard screaming of outside. "Somebody call the Rune Knights!" someone else yelled again.

"Oh no! Looks like trouble" said Lucy, she leapt up and dashed for the door, gate keys in hand. She stopped suddenly and turned around. "Everybody! Stay inside where it's safe!" she yelled back to the library patrons before dashing off, when she reached the entrance, she was met by more explosions dotting the town square just outside the library. Lucy saw red and gritted her teeth. She was all fired up now.

* * *

Daisuke remained in his chair as still as stone, mulling over his thoughts while people were running around him and books continued to fling from the shelves as the building shook. His lovely visit to the library was shot to hell. It didn't seem likely it was a coincidence that there was a Dark guild attack the day after he arrived. However, there was nothing he could think of, no way at all that other guilds on his blacklist knew about his movements.

He looked towards the back entrance of the library, where he saw patrons scampering wildly. He rolled up the parchment he was writing in and stuffed it into his knapsack. He grabbed his sword and swiftly sped after the annoying blonde girl who was talking to him earlier.

Magnolia Town just got interesting.

* * *

"Quick! Evacuate the area!" ordered the Titania of Fairy Tail, Erza.

No one attacked Magnolia while she was around. Not on her watch. The remaining Fairy Tail mages swarmed the area. Levi and Juvia headed the evacuation, ushering frantically as many people as possible, just in time for their reinforcements to arrive. The centre of the town was filled with flying rock, dirt and billowed with smoke. What was the number of casualty and wounded? She didn't know damn it.

"Who did this, Erza?" yelled Cana, the Tarot card mage.

"Not sure. Requip!" Erza transformed into her Heaven's Wheel Armour and confronted one of the men standing amongst the dust storm, unfazed and looking smug. There was no denying he was the one to have set off the magic explosion.

Smoked began to clear and Erza's eye trained on the menacing eyes of the wizard. His face was angular and his forehead was striped with creases. His lips was cocked into a confident sneer with a cigarette hanging from his chapped lips. The sleaziest looking creature she had seen in a long time stood before her. She noticed a symbol for three mountains adorned his cheek.

" _Blackheath_ _Guild_ " seethed Erza. She tightened her grip on her swords, poised ready to attack. "You have five seconds to explain your actions", she commanded, fury written in her tone.

He widened his menacing grin "Do I need one, Titania?" with that, he chomped down on the cigarette and a black magic circle erupted around it. The left side of the library suddenly blasted in a fiery explosion, rocks and rubble cascading from the side, kicking up more dust and dirt.

Erza shielded her eyes from the oncoming dust storm and gritted her teeth.

"You cretin… Dark guilds never fail to surprise me. But you are the ultimate _scum!_ " Titania leapt forward with immeasurable speed towards her enemy.

* * *

 **And there we have it! Action is already picking up in the first chapter :D  
**

 **I've been studying the map of Fiore which Hiro Mashima drew up some years ago when I was writing this story. I thought it was an interesting map :) So I've been using the places he created into my story haha. I hope my OC character, Daisuke, has intrigued you and you find him likable ^_^"**

 **For the _'A Touch of Saffron'_ readers out there, I've created a poll for that story on my profile for you to vote if you're interested :) For my new readers, you're welcome to do it too if you're interested in reading my other story!**

 **I'm paddling along in the hospital I'm assigned too. Hopefully I will make it!**

 **Let me know what you think and I'll see you again in 7 days time :)**

 **Signing-off**

 **-TripWire-dono**


	2. Dark Guild Attack

**Hello! I'm back again.**

 **There isn't much I could say about how my week has been, just extremely busy :( The only thing I guess worth mentioning is that I got stuck in a fire stairwell for 15min in the hospital. THEY HAD NO HANDLES ON THE OTHER SIDE, ONLY SECURITY SCANNERS. As a student, I don't have my own scanner... I had to call the front desk of the department I'm interning in on my mobile to help get me out haha very embarassing. I got locked out of my department by accident, had to call the department front desk AGAIN to let me back in. I got hit by the automatic doors, the big ones on the wards used to stop patients from absconding/escaping. Patient with dementia was following me on my way out of the wards, so I had to redirect her back to a nurse before I opened the doors to leave. YEP.**

 **Thanks for reading my new story! I hope it's exciting and you want to read more :)**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

 _Chapter 2 - Dark Guild Attack_

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROOOOOOAAAR!" A stream of fire blazed across the town square.

There was the unmistakable fire of fury deep in the pits of Natsu's belly. What the hell were the fucking Dark Guild bastards doing in Magnolia?! He had no idea which guild they came from. But fuck that! They. Will. Be. Fried. To. A. Crisp.

 _"Glass Make!_ Fractured Soul!"

Natsu dodged and back flipped just in time for an onslaught magically formed glass shards hurtling towards him. That guy still had magic power in him after a beating and a Fire Dragon's Roar? Heh, not for long anyway. Perfect time to get revved up! Just as Natsu landed back on his feet, a stray glass nicked him across the face.

"You fuckers are going to pay for all this" Natsu growled. The stupid grins on their faces was starting to really annoy the hell out of him.

"So what? It's too late now. You can't stop us!" yelled back the dark guild mage who attacked. He was a fat wanker in Natsu's eyes and his short and pudgy limbs looked thick enough for a roast spit. His ugly sneer made him see red and his was in need with a handshake to the face with his foot.

"Yeah, it's too late! _Hyuuk,_ _hyuuk_ " cackled the second mage. He was taller and lankier and was the dumber looking of the pair. "Our Master ordered us to wreck the library, _hyuuk_!"

"What the hell?! Johnny, don't tell him anything!" The fat whale smacked the skinny shit over the back of the head in fury, leaving the other to rub his hands over the sore spot dumbly.

"Ehhh… so sorry! I forgot" Johnny whimpered.

"We can't waste our time fighting, we need to take down the rest of the – "

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

Natsu charged forward, arms brimming with flames and punched the two mages square in the face. They tumbled all the way across the front of the library, landing in a charred heap. The enraged Fire Dragon Slayer stomped forward and grabbed them both by their collar of the shirts and brought their face millimetres to his enraged own. He had enough of their droll chit-chat. The two defeated mages whimpered in front of the searing heat of the dragon slayers skin. Natsu made sure they could taste the fire.

"You know what? I'm tired of dancing to the same old song" Natsu growled. "I'm gonna make this super clear. Get your butts out of here and back to your Masters before us Fairy Tail mages _eat you guys for lunch"_

"I'd like t-to see you t-try – "

 _CRACK!_

Natsu swiftly head butted the both of them into the ground. That ought to give them a nasty nightmare. He got ready to charge again, thirsty to look for more Dark Guild mages to pummel.

"Natsu!" he turned around to the sound he instantly recognised.

 _'Lucy!'_

What was she doing here? Was she hurt? Oh right! He forgot. She was supposed to be researching or something in the library. She came running down the stairs of the library front with her celestial keys tight in her grasp. Alarm and anger was written all over her face, eyes widening at chaos around them, slap bang in the peaceful town of Magnolia.

"Lucy, are you ok?"

"What the hell happened here? What's going on?!"

"We're under a dark guild attack, but I'm glad you're here. Let's finish this back-to-back, we'll show 'em Fairy Tail's strength" Natsu grinned from ear to ear and licked his lips. He smashed his fists together relishing in the powerful surge of his magic, a pre-battle ritual that always got his blood pumping.

"What the hell Natsu! Did you do all this?!"

 _"EH?!"_

He didn't understand. Of course he didn't! Lucy gestured her hands angrily at piles of burning rubble and small lit up buildings littering across the town square. It definitely looked like something he would do by accident, but NO! Why the heck would she be concerning herself with blaming him for this and that right now?! Natsu looked around and saw people screaming and children crying, running in all directions out of harm's way. Levy and Juvia were busy trying to calm everyone down for a safe evacuation. The main shopping district was lit up in a brilliant blaze, thick smoke billowing overhead, enough to cloak the sun and cast a nasty shadow over the tops of their heads.

"No way! These dark guild mages are blowing shit up all over the place like they always do!" He called back to her.

He spotted in the distant with his acute eye-sight three other dark guild mages huddled together, ready to ambush Romeo. He locked onto their location.

"FIRE DRAGON'S SWORD HORN!" He lit his body ablaze and bolted in their direction, headbutting all three of them like a meteor ravaging the Earth.

"Natsu!" Romeo flailed around, bewildered from the explosion of flame behind him.

"You alright there, kiddo?" Natsu grinned at him. He dispelled the fire from his body and grabbed Romeo's hand, dragging him to his feet.

"Th-Thanks, I didn't even see them there" said Romeo, wiping the dirt from under his eyes.

"Go help Lisanna, she looks like she could do with a hand" said Natsu, nodding in Lisanna's direction.

"U-uh Yeah!" Romeo waved at the Fire Dragon Slayer before dashing off to assist Lisanna, who was fighting off two female dark guild mages. He would be safe with her.

Natsu sniffed around. Something was terribly off. He had been in the midst of many fights before. Some he was randomly dragged into, most he sought out himself. One thing that always stood out for him was when a fight was stalling. This was _definitely_ a diversion for something. He narrowed his eyes and growled. Oh hell no! Not in his town. He ran back to where Lucy was.

' _One of those bastards mentioned taking down the rest of something!'_

He needed to beat the answers of one of them to get to the bottom of this before they tore Magnolia apart! Natsu caught up to Lucy. She had utilised the broken water pipes to summon the celestial spirit with the 'resting bitch face', Aquawoman or whatever. She was in the middle of angrily extinguishing the flames created from the explosions, and at the same time crushing the dark guild mages in a tsunami of dirty and muddy water.

' _Shit! The roof!'_

"LUCY, LOOK OUT!"

It was too late. Natsu had caught the scent in the last second of evil magic high above them from the very top of the library roof. Before he knew it the roof ignited and fiery cracks splintered down the sides, splitting the library walls like tearing silk screens. Burning debris cascaded. Lucy screamed as a burning piece of window sill flung out and grazed her arm. The ground cracked open beneath her and swallowed her left ankle, trapping it tightly as the concrete slab fell back in.

Lucy screamed. Her celestial spirit dived forward and took the brunt of the falling, flaming debris and pushed it to the side with amazing strength. Lucy immediately dispelled her magic, sending her back to the spiritual world in a poof. The last thing he heard was the cackling of crazed wizards from high up, before he was overwhelmed by the blood roaring in his ears. His chest and throat felt tight as he watched.

 _"LUCY!"_ He reached his arms out –

" _Souten_ _Ni_ _Zase_! Ice shatter!"

A blurred figure sped from the burning entrance and sliced a thin sword across the air in no time at all. Natsu's eyes gawked as a roof of ice spewed from the blade's tip, encasing all the burning debris falling meters from on top of them in ice and shattering them into millions of ice crystal.

Holy Igneel! Ice magic?!

The lithe figure stabbed his sword into the ground, freezing it completely in blue ice and it shattered into more ice crystals, effectively freeing Lucy's limp ankle. She was swept up into a bundle. They both disappeared in a flicker and flickered back, way out across the battle field where it was marginally safer.

' _Woah! is that speed magic too?!'_

Shaking his head from his stupor, Natsu gobbled up all the fire in front of him before leaping backwards away from the tumbling entrance. He poised his muzzle right at the perpetrators on the roof.

"Take this! FIRE DRAGON'S ROOOOAAARR!"

A tornado of fire swooped over the mages on the roof. They crashed down from the top with a deafening scream into the smouldering rubble. Natsu dragged the bodies of Fatso and Stick, and retreated from the tumbling entrance. He reached Lucy and the stranger who saved her, dumping the bodies on the ground before hovering over Lucy, worry and relief etched on his face.

"Hey, calm down" the stranger said to Lucy.

Lucy floundered and gasped and started spluttering about the people trapped inside the building, obviously suffering from a case of whiplash. She gave a high pitched groan and her face screwed up in pain as she looked down to her wounds through clenching eyes. Natsu frowned at the nasty burn and her ankle twisted in an unnatural position.

"Relax. The librarian evacuated everyone through the emergency exit back door. Sit still or you'll aggravate your wounds" said the stranger in a accented but soothing voice.

Lucy shook herself from her harrowing stupor and looked up with tear-filled eyes. "M-My ankle… I think it's-"

 _"Seal off the area and extinguish the flames!"_

Lucy, Natsu and the stranger lifted their heads to the reveille and distant marching. It looked like the council rune knights had arrived and were taking control of the disaster area, preparing to apprehend the dark guild mages on the roof and extinguishing the rest of the fire in an orderly manner. It was about damn time they got here! Natsu relaxed. He suddenly remembered the two bozos and swiftly tied them up with Lucy's whip.

"You and your dark guild buddies here are gonna answer for your crimes..." seethed Natsu. The town centre was destroyed and tonnes of people could have been injured.

Lucy could have been killed!

Red. His vision began hazing over in a scarlet world, before being consumed by something innate. Something _instinctual_ and deadly.

"WHO THE FUCK'S IN CHARGE HERE!?" He roared.

"Kekeke! Wouldn't you l-like to know...y-you'll never defeat us! It's too l-l-late. T-they will-"

"Don't fuck with me, I'm just getting started, WHO'S YOUR MASTER!" he grabbed them by the collar and his face burst into flames.

From the corner of the enraged Salamandar's eyes, he saw Lucy's saviour bringing up his cloak to shield both their bodies from the blinding heat and clucking his tongue in annoyance. Natsu made some effort to simmer down to not accidentally burn Lucy with his bewildering heat, but he was too mad to function properly right now.

"You're going to kill them with your rage before getting any answers" the stranger raised his voice at Natsu "Calm down. The authorities will take care of it. Your friend is coming around" the stranger tried to calm the ball of flames before he incinerated everything within a hundred metres.

Natsu looked over. Lucy looked so badly shaken. Instead his anger increased tenfold from the sight of what could have been Lucy's corpse. How could they?! His comrade so close to dying right in front of him… he could barely speak, he tried to force a sound from his mouth, but the sight of her with that horrible wound on her arm and twisted ankle was just too much for him.

"Your friend needs medical attention"

Natsu snapped out of his rage induced trance and glared at the cloaked figure with a barely contained expression. Fuck, he was right. Lucy's safety came first. Natsu reigned in his searing magic. He caught the scent of the sky maiden near the vicinity.

"Wendy! Over here!" Natsu spied Wendy and waved his arms over, dropping the passed out and 'sun-burnt' black guild mages to the ground.

Seeing Wendy, Charles and Happy running over, he turned to the stranger in question. It took all his willpower to force himself to calm down. He smelt something off about this person. He'd never seen anyone with sickly white hair or green eyes like that before. Weird. But he saved Lucy after all. So he was going to receive his gratitude where it was due.

"Hey, thanks man. I owe you one for saving her" Natsu held out a hand.

The stranger looked surprisingly youthful. He looked at Natsu's hand in question and took it.

"The name's Natsu Dragneel. Haven't seen you around town before"

"Daisuke Hitsugaya is my name. I've only arrived in Magnolia yesterday" he said. He released Lucy's body, letting her rest gently on the ground with a red scarf bundled up like a pillow for her to rest her head on and got up.

"Natsu! Lucy!" Wendy panted and collapsed on her knees next to Lucy. She checked over her injuries and sighed in relief that their comrade's injury was healable.

"Thanks for b-back there… Daisuke, was it?" Lucy offered a grateful smile as she finished coming around, basking in Wendy's healing magic.

The boy named Daisuke suppressed a smile and nodded.

"You're from the library..." said Lucy as she gave a tired smile. She hissed sharply when Wendy knelt down and hovered her hands and slightly touched the sensitive skin, trying to inspect the wound.

"You four over there! We need to ask you some questions" An official rune knight made his way over after the fire had been managed. The front and left side of the library now a smoking pile of rubble, revealing all the charred and shredded books strewn on the cracked floor, and burnt and broken desks, chairs and bookcases, toppled over each. The inside of the library was completed decimated.

"Oh damn. I hate these guys" grumbled Natsu.

* * *

"Is this everyone?" Erza re-quipped back to her usual armour.

She lifted her arms above her brows to survey the destroyed town square. It was her duty as a Fairy Tail mage to ensure that her comrades had all the members of Blackheath guild were accounted for and tied up _extra tight_.That battle sure had been something. That cigarette-eating serpentine bastard was definitely S-Class, but a low level one. Well, now that he was tied up against a tree, magic power spent, she was going to do some of her own interrogation before the council rune knights got their hands on them later. She wiped the blood smears from her arms.

"Alright, you. Speak", Erza grabbed the collar of his vest and jerked him up.

He coughed up blood onto her face. But she was unfazed. "This isn't over, Titania. More of us will come and we will _take the Dark Bible_!"

"More?" Erza widened her eyes. "More of you Blackheath scum?"

"Keh. No, our alliances. I hate to admit…there are plenty more black guilds…s-s-stronger than us waiting in the shadows…"

More coughing ensued and Erza dropped him back against the tree. She remembered something like this before. The Balam Alliance. There was no chance in hell they would be active again. She and her team made sure they were destroyed years ago. At least partially. The remaining members of the Oracion Seis were sitting in prison and the Grimoire Hearts were obliterated. That left only Tartarus… whom they have yet to encounter.

The Dark bible… Did they mean Zeref's Book? There's no other book a Dark Guild would want.

"You mess with this town and its citizens, all for some God Forsaken book!? You're asking for it from Fairy Tail. We don't take shit from anyone who's messing with our family and home" Erza growled.

He wheezed out a chuckle.

"Here are the rest" Gray the Ice-make wizard threw four other tied up Blackheath wizards against the ground. "These guys weren't as strong as I thought. We made pretty quick work of them" Gray kicked a battered and swollen one in the sides, inducing a moan from the tied up mage.

"We've got a problem, Gray" said Erza "This was only a small operation, apparently there will be more attacks like this in the future"

"What! How come?" Gray yelled incredulously.

Erza crouched down to eye level and balanced her blade at the captor's throat. "Unless you want me to slit your throat now, _tell me why you are after Zeref's book"_

He continued to sneer at her.

"… All hail _Las Noches_..!"

He bit onto his lips and activated a spell causing Erza to jump up and swing her blade to guard herself. Just like that, he erupted in a horrible spasm, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his life was no more.

"Fucking suicidal bastard, what kind of spell was that?" muttered Gray. He rubbed the back of his head and lazily surveyed the scene. He spotted Natsu and Wendy in the distance. "Hey Erza, who's that over there?" Gray pointed to the cloaked figure speaking to Natsu, just off to the side.

Erza glanced in the direction Gray pointed to. No idea. She had never seen those clothes before nor did she recognise anything about them.

"Hmm. Let's go check up on them" she said.

* * *

Gray and Erza shortened the distance within a minute. The library was in a shambles and other buildings caught in the blast were being cleaned up by the rune knights looking for any innocent bystanders who didn't make the evacuation. Suspicion crept into Erza's mind. Blackheath was located a fair distance away from Magnolia and she knew there wasn't any significant beef between their two guilds. Blackheath wasn't even that strong of a Dark Guild, but if that serpentine mage was right, they were allied with a bigger and stronger force. This was probably the doing of a large network of Dark Guilds and they were after Zeref's book. Only the most foolish, the most greedy and corrupt mage could dream of conquering the tome. Erza prayed the world would not be teetering on the edge of a knife again, orchestrated by another evil foe.

"Natsu! Lucy! Wendy!" Erza slowed down to a jog and then halted in front of the company with Gray not far behind.

"Hey Erza.. G-Gray.. Meet Daisuke, he's traveling from a-across the East and wants to learn a bit about Fiore. He also... saved me" introduced Lucy whilst struggling to get up with Wendy helping her. She wheezed and Wendy hurriedly instructed her to rest her voice.

The boy named Daisuke nodded distractedly as he stared at the flying and talking cats as if they were the most interesting things in the world. He had moderately spikey white hair, with some covering one of his eyes. They were an interesting shade of green, perhaps teal coloured in the sun. His skin was tanned and his face was round and young looking.

"Great! You guys take care of Lucy, while I take my prisoners back from the knights!" Just as Natsu was about to zoom off, Erza whipped out her hand and smacked his head to the ground.

"Enough! Let them take care of the perpetrators. That's what they are paid for" said Erza. She turned her attention to the boy with shocking white hair. "How do you do? My name is Erza Scarlet" Erza shook his hands in a firm grip.

"Erza! We can't let those bastards get away!" Natsu dug himself out of the crater made by the impact of his head.

"I already have some information Natsu" she said cooly. "You need to calm down"

He was about to yell back but a look from Erza silenced him.

"The name's Gray" Gray shook the boy named Daisuke's hands. They both widened their eyes, as if something passed between the both of them.

"Ho? You are an Ice user?" he inquired.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Gray smirked.

"Because I am as well" he replied.

Natsu chucked a final glare at the prisoners taken by thy Rune Knights and dusted himself off.

"Oh yeah… Hey man, how did you use magic like that? With all the ice. I've never seen a spell cast like that before" said Natsu narrowing his eyes curiously at the sword in Daisuke's grip and pointed to it.

Daisuke lifted the thin sword in his grip "Uh…It's a family technique that was passed down",

"I gotta admit, it looked way cooler than yours Gray" Natsu tittered behind his hands at Gray.

"The fuck – "

"Enough!" Erza boomed "Lucy needs to go to the infirmary and Fairy Tail needs to gather and report back to Master. We have a very big problem on our hands now. Blackheath guild was behind this, although I fear there's other dark guilds working together to cause havoc in Fiore."

"Blackheath huh. That's one name I'm committing to memory" growled Natsu. Erza pinned him with another withering look.

Erza turned to Daisuke "I suppose you need to come with us too since you are now caught up in this mess. Sorry for the bother"

Daisuke shook his head "It's okay, I booked a room in your guild accommodations last night"

"Oh you did? How convenient" Erza smiled "I have a feeling Master is going to have a few questions concerning you"

Daisuke pursed his lips, almost making Erza smirk.

Natsu lifted Lucy up and swung her good arm over his neck "I'm sorry I didn't do anything to help" she said sadly.

"Don't be like that Lucy, it's not like you to beat yourself over for such a small thing like this. Nobody else was hurt" Natsu gave her his famous cheshire grin.

Lucy smiled back. Erza looked towards Daisuke, about to ask him something, but he spoke before she did in a slightly urgent tone.

"I need to grab my gear from the library first, I'll catch up", he zipped away before anyone could say anything and passed the council knights doing a status report at the burnt library site.

* * *

He slowly made his way over and under pieces of broken building until he got to where his table and books were supposed to be. He quickly searched and found a familiar strap from under the dust and pieces of brick. He carefully dug some concrete away and tugged his knapsack out. Checking over the contents inside, he was satisfied that nothing was damaged.

Blackheath guild. That name was unfamiliar. It most definitely was not a coincident that this library was destroyed. If anything _Las Noches_ had found out what his family was up to and had thrown a wrench into the mechanical gears of this quest. It had to be. Family Intel found out that _Las Noches_ was slowly and steadily building guild alliances against his family for some time now. It was sooner or later, they would make the first move. He was going to have to touch base with his family soon, alert them on his progress and the hairy big spider in the ointment.

Daisuke mulled over his options on how to remove the thorn that was Fairy Tail from his side. He closed his eyes, standing in the middle the rubble against the dappled sunlight. He felt the cool iciness of his magic course from the hand gripping his blade up his arm and into his heart.

A low ethereal growl emerged from the deep recesses of his mind like a dormant dream.

He made for the entrance and just as he emerged, he tugged his hood down and darted stealthily around the council knights. They were too busy to notice an incredibly suspicious person such as himself skulking away. Fuck the accommodation. Now to get the hell out of this town! However he suddenly came face to face with the little girl with long blue hair in pig tails. Oh crap. That lass named Wendy.

"Umm" she began. "I overheard you talking while I was healing Lucy". She held her tiny hands together and bowed her body to a perfect ninety degrees. "Thank you so much for saving her!"

Daisuke froze. He didn't really know what he should do…

"Wendy! Hurry up!" came the shrill yell of the flying cat that had garnered much of his interest.

"Yes Charles! Umm…We should hurry back" Wendy gently tugged on his cloak.

Daisuke sighed. There went his plans for nicking off.

* * *

Lahar ticked off the final Blackheath mage being frogmarched into the prison carriage. They were already in pretty bad shape since Fairy Tail mostly took care of the hard work. He pushed his spectacles further up his nose.

"Casualty report on the enemy?" he commanded a nearby knight.

"Eight wounded and three suicides, sir!" he saluted.

This was the fourth attack in six months, both targeting town libraries. Experience told him that there was no indication to say where the next target would be. Could they guess it will be another town library? He couldn't say for sure, but this was reflecting too much of the burning Zentopian churches from last time, so possibly.

"Lahar, we've got a possible lead on solving these strings of operation" said Doranbolt as he approached.

"Go on"

"Well, one of the members of Blackheath killed himself while being interrogated by our knights. He yelled _'All hail Las Noches'_ just before activating a suicide spell".

"Las Noches? What on Earthland is that?" inquired Lahar.

"Beats me" sighed Doranbolt scratching the back of his head.

"Alright it's the only lead we got so far. Notify the Magic Intelligence Taskforce and get them on to finding out what this _Las Noches_ is all about. We need to arrange a debrief with the Magic Council too" Lahar removed his spectacles and wiped it clean of the dirt and dust. They also needed to find a way to stop the rest of the mages from casting suicide spells before handing them over to the Interrogation Unit. The problem was, these suicide spells were fairly new and the counter-spell for that is still in-progress. There was nothing like advances in magic like those created for war and evil, which Lahar would lament from time to time.

"Right, I'll go have a word with Fairy Tail when it's settled here" said Doranbolt.

"Yes, you do that" Lahar and Doranbolt parted ways to address their duties.

"Watch your step sir!" Doranbolt side stepped just in time for the last of the Blackheath members being pushed into the prison carriage.

The bleary eyed dark guild wizard groaned and spat at the knight, earning a disgusted outcry and a whack across the face.

A loud shriek from the prison carriage distracted Lahar from his readings. He glanced over and scrunched his eyebrows as to what on Earthland was going on. From what he could see through the bars, the Blackheath wizard's eyes were darting at all angles as if desperately searching for a horrible spectre only he could see. He was also whipping his head everywhere for a deathly sound only he could hear. Lahar snapped shut his clipboard and strode over.

Terror seemed to grip the mage like no other.

"Oi, what's wrong?" asked Lahar.

The mage started to mutter rapidly under his breath, eyes still looking around wildly for his invisible nightmare. Lahar had to lean in closer to catch anything coherent from the mage.

"It w-will tell them, it will tell th-them! It will tell…HIM! AAIIIGGGHHH!"

The rune knight officer, threw his head back to escape a strand of saliva propelling from between the bars. He tsked and re-aligned his glasses, about to dismiss it as gibberish when the whole carriage shook with bellowing and yelling. He stepped back a few paces with absolute caution in case the captive mages pulled something funny, but quickly realised it wasn't a ruse of any kind. Whatever fear that Blackheath mage had was genuine, utterly contagious and full of madness.

Lahar spun around and searched for what could have possible evoked this fear pandemic in the carriage.

' _All I can see is rubble, ash and shadows and all I can hear are my knights'_ he thought.

"GET US OUT OF HERE _HYUUK_! GET US AWAY FROM THIS PLACE, Hurry please!" the mage banged insanely against the bars of the carriage.

"Sit your butt down, you mutt!" yelled one of the knights who came over, rapping his rod against the magically enforced iron grate. It did not deter the terrified mage one bit.

"I b-beg of you… please _hyuuk_ …!" he weeped uncontrollably. The rest of the guild members were now clutching onto each other with cuffed hands, howling.

"Our M-Master's _Master_ … Our s-souls will…! T-The D-death G-"

 _THWACK!_ He was struck on the head through the grating and he fell back in a heap.

"What the hell is wrong with them, sir?" muttered the knight who struck him.

"I have no idea, probably just one of those Time-based Madness Spells dark guild higher-ups use to snap their wits, to stop them divulging useful information. Roll them out!" ordered Lahar.

* * *

In a last ditch attempt, the crazed mage activated the suicide spell without either Lahar or the other Rune Knight suspecting anything.

Lahar eventually did dismiss any thoughts about the crazy fear all the mages in the carriage seemed to have caught. He also dismissed the insane cryptic words the mage spewed. He also dismissed the absurdity of shadows in broad noon daylight. One thing he couldn't have seen in order to even contemplate dismissing, was a creature hidden in the suspicious shadows. Shadows where it shouldn't be. A creature only the Blackheath mage could see, eliciting a haunting chitter only the Blackheath mage could hear.

Unbeknownst to Lahar, such a creature did exist. It possessed the face of a grinning petrified skull and a gaping void where its heart should be. Such a notion would liken itself to that of _death_.

* * *

Daisuke reluctantly paid for another two nights of accommodation, which he lied about, to that woman named Mirajane. She looked surprised to see him back at the guild and even more surprised to see he was with that little lass named Wendy.

"I hope you weren't caught up in the act near the library" said Mirajane.

"I obviously was. I told you yesterday I was heading to the library didn't I?" snapped Daisuke. He was peeved that he was back at Fairy Tail.

"What do you mean Master isn't here, Macau!" He could hear that mage named Erza groaning.

The middle-aged man named Macau held up his hands in defense at the annoyed red headed mage. "Master had already left at the break of dawn to attend the monthly Guild Masters' conference in Clover town"

"I didn't even notice. When will he be back?" sighed Erza.

"He should be back this evening", interjected another man who looked like he belonged in the same age generation with the first man.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm super thirsty after some butt-kicking today. Hey Mira! How about some shots for everybody!" said a scantily dressed mage sitting coolly on a large barrel. Her long chestnut brown hair tumbled from her shoulders as she threw her head back and laughed. Daisuke wondered if it was normal for female mages to wear such revealing clothing in Fiore, but then again, the young male mages here were also dressed quite liberally... What an interesting culture.

"We're out of shots Cana. But I still have Mojitos" sang that Mirajane hostess from the bar.

"I don't want any fancy schmancy cocktail. Just give us a round of ale then!" yelled back the mage named Cana.

The bar hostess just smiled, preparing the ale. Daisuke was feeling a bit weary from all the commotion this morning. Not so much as weariness from strength and magic power, but more like brain power. There were more information he needed to process to develop a new plan of action. He could only do that if he had peace and quiet, so he opted that being away from Fairy Tail mages was the best option.

"I'll be heading up to my room now. Is it okay if I receive lunch upstairs? I wish to be undisturbed" said Daisuke to the bar hostess.

"Sure" she replied.

"Hey you," he could feel the ice mage approaching. Great. What now?

"Daisuke was it? You know anything about the hounds that attacked the town library?" Gray leveled a cautious look at Daisuke.

"What makes you think I know anything of the sort? I'm new here"

"Oh I don't know. A strange foreign traveler suddenly shows up and the next day there is a Dark-Guild-attack at the very place you were hanging out this morning?"

Daisuke held up a hand to appease the brewing magic of the ice user. He could feel his tongue sharpening itself to retaliate, but held back. He guessed the ice mage Gray had every right to be suspicious. He would be too in his shoes. Daisuke watched him cross his muscled arms across his bare chest. This mage had a habit of loosing his attire without even realising which piqued Daisuke's curiosity. The amount of reminders from the red headed woman and the utter shock on his face when he couldn't find his shirt told him it was an involuntary habit. Surely this couldn't be normal...

"If it will put your mind at rest, I know nothing about the people who attacked. I was caught off guard just as much as your town was"

"I don't buy it"

"Oi, hold up Ice Queer! This guy saved Lucy" the fire mage named Natsu stepped towards them from Daisuke's side. "If he was part of this attack, why would he put his own life on the line for her?"

Gray pulled a disgusted face and unfurled his arms, tensing them up in front of himself as if ready to through a left hook. Fire and ice definitely didn't mix and Daisuke wanted to just slap both of them across the back of the head to get them to stop throwing up a magic turbulence around them because it was attracting too much... oh... no one was paying attention. Was this a normal occurrence too?

' _I wasn't really risking my life…'_

"Want a go at me Smoked Chicken?" Gray growled at Natsu.

"Let's have it now Frost face!"

"Settle down you too! There has been enough blood shed in one day!" yelled Erza from across the guild hall.

"A-Aye sir!" They sure changed their tune quite quickly.

Daisuke took advantage of the conversational tangent to take a few steps back, looking for a way to go upstairs unnoticed. He gulped at the oppressive magic the red headed mage was forcing upon those two. This was a woman in the driver's seat of the carriage. She was scary and had them in her iron-clad fist. Daisuke would pray for them, but no, he was disinclined to.

"Where do you think you're going Daisuke?" Erza turned her attention to Daisuke.

Daisuke halted in his steps and turned back to her. "Please excuse me, I'm feeling tired and need to deposit my things and have lunch upstairs."

"Nonsense. You can have lunch downstairs with the rest of us. We are really grateful for you saving Lucy, but Gray is right. You seem suspicious. I've got a few questions to ask of you"

Daisuke sighed in defeat. She couldn't have been more blunt. He should have heeded the gossip back in Port Hargeon and stay clear of Fairy Tail in Magnolia Town. Blast the humid rain on that night!

"Lunch is my treat"

"Eh, lunch is complimentary in the accommodation price" called out Mirajane.

"Hmm, in that case, cake is my treat"

Daisuke sighed in defeat, giving the red-head a nod and grabbed his key from Mirajane. He went upstairs to dump his things, making sure the parchment from his knapsack is placed under the mattress for safety. Daisuke locked the door before exiting and leaving the upstairs corridor. He looked down and suddenly realised how massive the guild hall really was. It could probably house a small concert with some room to spare. His gaze followed the many different types of wizards occupying the tables and spotted the scarlet haired woman walking back over to a particular table and continued conversing with an ogre of a man. That man was huge! He looked like something his family hunted in his home country. He was spouting some jibberish about masculinity...

The silver haired boy finally took a seat beside the one called Erza and a plate of meat and potatoes was placed in front of him. Did they have any rice, he wondered. That was alright, he something like this in other Fiorean taverns and inns before.

"So tell me where you hail from, Daisuke Hitsugaya" began Erza.

The ice mage approached and placed his hand on the table, leaning threateningly towards Daisuke. "How about we start with-" Erza held up her hand to silence Gray.

He slowly chewed on a piece of meat and felt awkward to see so many eyes trained on him. Including the flying cats.

"I'm from the Far-East"

"Oh! you're from Pergrande Kingdom?" asked a petite light blue-haired girl. He looked to his left as she plopped herself into the empty seat beside him. She was a bit shorter than him and her hair was very tousled, so much so that she had to wear a colourful bandana across her hair to tame those wavy locks. Her eyes were big and brown as she gazed at him in interest. This blue-haired girl had an intelligent looking face.

"No, just past that, from _Vana'diel"_ replied Daisuke, moving onto the potatoes. It was seasoned really nicely. He wondered where he could find the spices to bring back home when all this was over. It was delicious. His ears pricked up to hear a few confused mumbling and mutters. Was there something wrong?

"What..." he tipped is head to the side.

"Sorry… where did you say you're from?" The blue haired girl tapped a finger on her chin. He could see the gears in her brain straining very hard to comprehend what he had just said.

"Umm, you know... _Vana'diel_ … Don't you?" he quirked a brow.

More puzzled looks. They haven't heard of his home country before? He dropped his potato back on the plate and wiped his fingers with the napkin. "Do you keep a map of Earthland here?"

"We have one in the library, let me get that for you" offered Mirajane

"Oh! Freed and I placed it in the box marked _'Atlas'_ on top of the first shelf on the right" called out the blue-haired girl.

The bar hostess disappeared for a moment and came back with a large rolled up parchment and brought it over to the table. Daisuke cleared a space and she unfurled it in front of him. He choked on his potatoes that was still in his mouth.

"What the hell? Don't you have a _recent_ map of the world?"

All the countries on the Western peninsula were labelled neatly and nicely: Bosco, Iceberg, Seven, The Land of Isvan, Principality of Veronica, Minstrel and many others. The capital cities stood out over the smaller circles of the lesser well known townships. But all the lands outlined _beyond_ the Pergrande Kingdom were washed over in grey ink. The tell-tale signs for 'unexplored lands'. Bloody hell, these twats of Fiore…

"Hey! Men shouldn't be rude to my sister! That isn't manly at all!" Bellowed the ogre man.

"Excuse me but, this _is_ a recent map of the world" Mirajane said in what could be mistaken as a patronising tone.

Daisuke sighed for the umpteenth time. He couldn't be fucked going back upstairs to retrieve his version of the map of Earthland which was hand drawn by the family cartographer. He reached into his innermost jerkin pocket and pulled out his charcoal pencil. He proceeded to sketch lines and curves with superb accuracy against the thick parchment map.

"W-What are you doing?! Hey!" the blue-haired girl stuttered.

"...Updating your map" he drawled. Daisuke delicately drew out each and every jagged line and curve _exactly_ as he remembered from his map, _to scale._

Daisuke wondered how the hell the people of Fiore had never heard of _Vana'diel?_ Did he miss something gravely important about them before he crossed the other countries to get here? Sure their countries were like a couple of medium sized countries apart, but still... After a few moments of concentration and trying to block out those annoying incredulous gasping, he leaned back to observe his handiwork. Fairy Tail's map was sporting a new country to the side, sectioned off in five parts with dotted lines. He had drawn four more countries around, with parts falling off the edge of the map, so to speak. The map was looking fuller and he smiled at the accuracy of his cartographic skills. He earned himself a mental hi-five. He had labelled the five extra countries along with their states on the grey bits and circled the name of his home country. The biggest nation of them all.

 _Vana'diel_.

* * *

 **Took a little trip down memory lane with this chapter :3 So now we know where Daisuke comes from and its a country that Fairy Tail or the rest of Fiore has never heard of before because it's too far East and not even labelled on the map! I wonder why that could be? Now we know he's an ice-user too, which probably shouldn't have been too hard to figure out :)**

 **Next stop? Why has he traveled all this way to Magnolia... and who the hell are _Las Noches..._**

 **Let me know what you guys think, I'd love to hear from you! Until next time, keep being awesome and I'll see you in 7 days.**

 **Signing-off**

 **-TripWire-dono**


	3. Behind Their Backs

**G'day!**

 **So it's halfway through my clinical placements and I've been enjoying it immensely. There are so many interesting patients I've met with lots of interesting stories. I don't want to bore you with the details, except I'm not prone to getting locked in fire stairwells again hahaha.**

 **Okey dokey, on with the story!**

* * *

 _Chapter 3 - Behind Their Backs_

" – And that's that" Daisuke folded his arms and leaned onto the table.

Late evening had descended upon them and explaining the geography of the world to these Fairy Tailers was more exhausting than he thought. It was simple, all they needed to know was there was a massive nation called Vana'diel with five states just beyond Pergrande Kingdom, and they are free to vacation there whenever it tickled their fancy. Yet, it seemed so hard for them to get their heads around it. It wasn't like he came from a parallel universe. It was a wonder to both Fairy Tail and himself as to why they've never heard of Vana'diel. He hypothesised it was because The West and The East were too far away from each other to hold any substantial connections like trade. That aside, explaining to them how he was _not_ involved in all this crap with the dark guild attack was more exasperating and time consuming. At least they stayed clear on the topic about his family.

"I don't think it's safe for you to be out and about by your lonesome for the next few days. Being a young traveler studying Fiorean culture, you will surely get involved into other's mess if you aren't careful" said Erza.

Out of everyone, she was the first to believe he was _not_ an accomplice of Blackheath. He had to admit, he was very reluctant to feed them his story of being a scholar studying the Fiorean ways. She had asked him many times and rephrased the questions in different ways about what he knew of Zeref's Book or _The Black Bible._ He admitted to them over and over that he never came across the term for both this evil mage name Zeref and _The Black Bible._ The higher-ups in his family probably knew and if they did, it was information obviously mages like him and his comrades back at home were not privy to. Too bad he couldn't convince a certain other ice mage. He could sense the cold, hard doubt from him. They shared similar magic after all.

"So what's the local language in Vana'diel?" asked Levy, whom he discovered had a healthy interest in archaic and lost languages.

"We speak _H_ _yōjungo_ , _Al Bhed_ and _Deutsch_ depending on which region you come from",

Levy leaned over the map, closely inspecting the areas outlined. She could see that Vana'diel consisted of different states he had mentioned, each controlled buy its own state government.

"Al Bhed is the national language. Our constitution is written in Al Bhed. But in the Eastern rural areas, they speak more Eastron and people who speak Deutsch were originally from the north, but they're scattered across the country"

"Wow that is amazing! We only speak Fiorean here. You're so lucky your country has different languages" said Levy.

"Yeah, usually if a _Deutsche_ and an _H_ _yōjungo_ - _jin_ meet, they would automatically communicate in _Al Bhed_ as both would definitely know it" Daisuke was thoroughly enjoying conversing with Levy on subjects of his interests: languages.

"Like a 'language bridge' right?" said Levy

"Right" nodded Daisuke.

"So… do you speak all three?" asked Levy.

"Aye, I do" replied Daisuke.

"You have got to teach me!" said Levy, leaning over the table.

Daisuke held up his hands to calm her down. "It won't be useful to you unless you come to Vana'diel though…"

"Then I'll come visit Vana'diel!" she squealed.

* * *

Gray on the other hand, grimaced at the overflowing joy from Levy. She was starting to break into a long-winded sonata about all the languages she studied and it was ridiculous. There was no way he was trusting this guy so easily. Levy needed to get a grip. Something in his gut told him there was definitely something slippery under his tales and his gut was warning him.

 _Don't trust this guy_.

"Say, you speak Fiorean really well for a first timer here. Where did you learn?" asked Gray as he came over.

"A friend taught me. He's fluent" Daisuke replied cooly.

"He must have lived here for while to be proficient enough to teach it" Said Gray

"Yeah I suppose… What are you trying to say?" Daisuke frowned slightly, giving Gray a suspicious look.

"Why bother coming here to learn about our culture when obviously your 'fluent friend' has been here before. He could teach you all you need to know about us instead of you coming here" Gray pressed on, leaning closer to Daisuke.

Daisuke stared right back at Gray, not intimidated at all by the other ice user.

"Obviously listening to second-hand information is nothing compared to having first class experience," he retorted. Daisuke did nothing to appease Gray this time, only succeeding in riling him further.

* * *

Natsu from over the bar could feel the rising frosty tension in the air and it was getting a bit nippy in the guild hall. He made sure to stay clear from those two as his instincts told him they were going to butt horns sooner or later, those ice magic powerhouses. Screw them! He wasn't going to be caught in the middle of a testosterone-filled snow storm just because. He stared at the way Daisuke snarled at Grey. Yeeeesh, he has got a set of choppers didn't he? There was something about him he couldn't quite get. Something he should have known immediately, but didn't. Natsu gave up thinking about it. He cocked his head to the side and dug at the itchiness in his left ear with his pinky, earning an disgusted gag from Cana.

"Oi Lucy! Don't you need to get ready for mission to the Museum or something?" Natsu yelled from the bar towards the infirmary. The men (plus Cana) were having yet another round of drinks waiting for the Master to return, while Gray and Daisuke were continuing having there stupid stare down.

"Natjuu… thashish not h-heerww you schpeek to a sick geerrrlll" Macau was ready to slide under his bar-stool.

"Relax Macau, Lucy's fine now. She's just wasting time chit-chatting" Natsu grinned widely at the pickled Macau and slapped him on the back, instantly sending him to the floor.

He had learnt his lesson the last time he babied Lucy when she was really injured. It was just in his nature that if a team member, except Gray, was down, he was there to support them in any way he could. Apparently that didn't work too well with Lucy. He remembered she kept telling him she was okay, she was fine but he kept insisting that for her not to push herself. That had probably set her off. Next thing he knew, he was thrown out the infirmary and words thrown at him like 'strong', 'fine' 'glass' and 'sexist'. He feared that he might have damaged her pride as a mage. Lucy made him promise her to stop treating her as a porcelain doll. From that day on he never did again.

"Yep, I'll be leaving in a second!" Lucy emerged from the infirmary. "I need to really get a move on. The last train of the night leaves in about thirty minutes"

"We should walk Lucy to the station" chirped Happy.

"Yeah, good idea, bud" Natsu nodded in agreement. He threw a last sidelong look at the snowy haired guest.

Natsu couldn't be happier right now, Wendy did an amazing job in healing her arm and foot. Lucy was back to her bubbly self and there was not even a hint that she had been injured from today. Wendy was going to be such a powerful healing-sky dragon slayer when she's older. Taking extra classes with that pink-haired, menopausal witch from time to time had paid off for sure. Natsu continued to grin from ear to ear.

"Bye guys! See you when I get back!" Lucy waved enthusiastically and made a quick dash out the door.

The Fairy Tailers waved at her and wished her luck.

"Hey Lucy! Wait for me!" Natsu sped after her with Happy flying in tow.

* * *

Back on the furthermost table, Daisuke felt a tingling feeling in the back of his mind, it was slowly creeping upwards the front of his brain meaning...

' _Sweet Etro! An incoming message'_

Daisuke got up from the table and drank the last of his tea and ate the last morsel of cake. It was different to his usual _sencha_ but was still palatable. Gray looked like he had something else to say before Erza placed a hand on his shoulder, earning a startled look from him. She shook her head.

"I'm going to retire for the night. So much has happened today"

"Wait, I didn't get to ask about how you learnt Sindarin yet?" Levy looked up abruptly.

"We can talk about it tomorrow" Daisuke forced a smile.

"Master will be back shortly though" said Gray anyway.

Daisuke cradled the back of his head against his interlocked fingers and gave her a scathing look that clearly said he was going to bed and wouldn't hear any arguments from anyone. He should've been under the duvet hours ago, but goodness no, he graciously stayed back to teach Fairy Tail a thing or two about the other side of the peninsula.

"I will see him tomorrow"

He went upstairs without another word.

* * *

"Ugh…" Erza's voice fell flat at the back of her throat.

"Leave him be" Wakaba came over to Erza "Poor kid's had a rough day and needs to catch up on some sleep to continue growing" he chuckled.

"He's intentionally over-loading us with information about his home country to cover something up. I know it" said Gray.

"You mean like how Romeo blathers on about nonsense when he gets home to distract Macau from asking where he's been to go training secretly? Yeah I getcha"

"He booked for two nights. So he's not going anywhere for two days" said Erza.

All they could do now is hope that Master will return this evening or at the very least tomorrow morning.

* * *

"Thanks for helping me carry my things Natsu" Lucy heaved the last of her luggage onto the train as Natsu stretched his sore muscles. "You're normally not this helpful…"

"What the heck have you packed in there! A spare toilet? That thing weighed a tonne!" cried Natsu.

He swore, each time the both of them went on a mission, her luggage was getting heavier and heavier. She wore light clothing, so it wasn't too many clothes. Was she bringing heaps of food? That couldn't be it since she weighed next to nothing and had no room to pack the pounds. It must be the books. She's been around Erza and Levy too much!

"What the hell? Of course not" snorted Lucy.

"Lucy is bringing dumbells. She wants to be manly like Elfman" chittered Happy.

"Oh! That explains it. We wish you the best of luck" said Natsu.

"NO! YOU STUPID CAT!"

The sound of the train whistle alerted her that it was just about time to depart. Lucy jumped onto the carriage and picked a window seat where she stuck her head out to bade Natsu goodbye.

"Don't' cause a ruckus while I'm gone, you hear me?" she smiled and waved through the open window.

"Nah, you know we won't. Trust us" he grinned at her.

She shot him a dubious look, making him cringe. The pistons hissed and the train was brought to life, steadily leaving the station. Natsu gave Lucy a last wave until the sight of the train was no more than a speck on the horizon. He decided it was time to head back home.

"Natsu, why didn't you want to go with Lucy on her mission? Aren't you… worried?" asked Happy. The blue cat settled on top of his head.

Natsu grinned, he knew his feline friend's concern stemmed from the events of this morning.

"We can't let things like these stop us from doing our jobs, Happy. We Fairy Tail mages are strong, nothing can bring us down! Lucy wouldn't let things like this get to her. And it's probably good for her to go on a solo one every now and again" replied Natsu.

"But Natsu, we always do things together" whined Happy.

"Yeah I know buddy, all three of us can go on another mission together when she gets back" Natsu beamed, stepping out from the platform.

He halted.

Partially illuminated by the dull station lamp-light, a lone figure draped in a cloak strode past him amongst the throng of commuters who alighted the train that had just docked. The cloak looked damn familiar and was held together by a green broach around the neckline. The figure also carried a satchel, weighing heavily against their left side. It exuded the scent of sweet and tangy apples and he sniffed eagerly in its direction.

It smelled good.

His body reacted on its own and angled towards the scent. The Dragon Slayer's pupils dilated at the magical aura this person emitted and it tickled his gut, bubbling in the pits of his stomach.

' _That smell. It's so –"_

Taking a last glance as the figure disappeared around the corner and into the night, he caught the sight of slim ankles donned by low-heeled ankle boots.

 _It was a she!_

It made sense to his dragon-slayer-mind, the scent was powerful and feminine... it was _everything_ about her. Her gait was swift and purposeful in her stride, hurrying out of the station. Natsu flared his nostrils, soaking in the sweet smell of apples which hung loosely in the air. The smell. It tapped into something he knew had always been buried.

He grinded his teeth.

"…uhh Natsu?" Happy poked his hair in question.

Natsu was standing still for a full minute and Happy was perplexed. The sound of the blue cat's voice which resonated from the top of his head shook him out of his trance.

"Eh? Oh ah… you want to catch a late night snack, Happy?" Natsu looked up over his fringe at his best friend.

"Aye!" Happy sang, forgetting all about Natsu's strange behaviour.

Natsu rubbed his stomach and licked his lips, craving for something sweet and fruity for once.

* * *

Daisuke emerged from his long shower and slumped onto the arm chair with only a towel wrapped around his waist. The water glistened against his body in the firelight and he didn't feel arsed to dry himself manually. The constant tingling in the back of his head was still there, but he was still feeling too lazy to answer it, the urgency already waned.

Another twenty minutes passed and he finally decided that putting on some clothes was a good idea. He slipped on his sleeping tunic and trousers then rummaged through his knapsack, pulling out the thing that was causing the tingling in his head. Daisuke knew he was never really good at coping unnecessary anxiety but was a hell of a professional at disguising it. His quest just got more complicated and being on the brink of involving strangers was going to be more painful than a thorn in his side. What could he do about it now? He needed to be out of here with God speed.

A pulled out a hand mirror.

He exhaled on the mirror and wiped it with his sleeve. "You called?"

A face that was not his own reflected back from the mirror. He certainly wasn't expecting her!

" _It took you long enough"_ the girl in the mirror huffed at him.

"Lenalee..." he cooed back to the mirror, smirking.

She chuckled with that sweet voice of hers. _"How's Fiore?"_ her Al Bhed accent was so cute.

"Delightful…"

" _Don't be like that, I'm sure it's not that bad"_

He would spare her the details. "Where's Bookman? I thought he was meant to drop a line to me"

Daisuke switched the mirror to his other hand and got comfy on the bed. He smiled warmly at the image of his sweetheart on the other side of the mirror. Her glossy black hair swayed nicely against the the collar of her uniform as she tilted her head endearingly at him. He longed to run his fingers through her hair and onto her neck, but being leagues and leagues away from her meant it could only be imagined. Lenalee swiveled her head from left to right, searching for Bookman.

" _He'll be here in a second. He's just running a short errand with Smith's family"_

"Smith? What's Bookman doing with his family?" asked Daisuke.

Lenalee shrugged. _"I don't know, Patriarch's orders. He's got Smith's family and two other families finishing up on a few missions. Looks like they needed Lavi for extra support… or something like that"._

Made a bit more sense now. Daisuke thought about his Patriarch, the master of his family. The master of _all_ the families.

" _Yahooo! Daisuke-kun!"_ he heard the unmistakable lilt of Lavi Bookman's voice erupt from the mirror.

Suddenly Bookman's red hair filled the mirror and he beamed into it like the doofus he was.

"Bye _koi_ " he bade Lenalee a quick farewell and she blew him a kiss before disappearing from sight.

" _Have you got the package yet?"_ he could tell Bookman was walking really fast somewhere by the way his image was jigging up and down.

"No, got held up. My research on its whereabouts showed that it's been moved about a hundred years ago to another location" replied Daisuke.

" _I see. The Partriarch's got me running around translating some old runes from multiple temple sites a few months ago to keep the wheels turning in this quest. Smith's family provided me some tactical support towards the end. Really! His right hand man should lighten up for once. He's a total buzz kill. Anyway, I can't get anymore done until you get your hands on The Grimoire."_

"Yeah, I understand"

Ah yes. The Incantis. The Magic Arcana. Svarteboken. Better known as,

 _The Grimoire_.

The legendary lost book for every spell and magic known to man, evil and pure.

Every spell from East to West.

Every alchemic and alchehestric ritual.

Every potion recipe imaginable.

Every séance instruction.

Every charm for every talisman.

It was all for those who were hungry for the magical text. The Grimoire was the ultimate goal of the family quest. It was the whole reason for what led Dasiuke to this town and also the reason why Daisuke must leave.

"Yeah, still working on it"

" _I thought you might say that"_ Bookman chuckled. _"Thank goodness the Patriarch had the foresight to send Riza to you"._

"…What?"

" _She should be arriving to wherever you're crashing for the night right about…now"._

True to his word, there was a soft raping on the window pane. Daisuke cursed under his breath and went over to open the window. The expected, and at the same time unexpected guest, Riza, landed on the floor without a sound like a cat. The light of the fireplace revealed a deep set of feminine honey brown eyes. She brandished off her cloak with a quick snap from her green broach, as if thankful to be somewhere warm and not out in the cold for a change. She gave Daisuke a smile and patted his arm before placing her satchel near the fire.

Daisuke cursed his luck. He was feeling the need for another story to feed Fairy Tail.

"Did you travel much?" said Daisuke sarcastically.

" _Nein_. I was just on the outskirts of Bosco before our Patriarch dropped a line. I took a direct train to Magnolia" She replied in a steady husky voice.

"Our Patriarch spoke to you directly, huh?"

 _"Ja_. Are you jealous?" She deadpanned, busying herself with her satchel.

"Your Fiorean is getting better" Daisuke smirked as he switched topics.

"Mission debrief after I use your shower?" she asked, already walking to the bathroom with a fresh change of her clothes. He didn't understand why she bothered to ask anyway.

"Don't take too long"

After thirty minutes, Riza was dressed and glowing from the heat of the shower. It had been a long time since Daisuke saw a squeaky-clean Riza. This was definitely a change from her habit from bathing in rivers and sleeping under starlight. She was often away on jobs so that probably explained why she was always looking sweaty and covered in a light layer of dirt.

"Hello Lavi, how is your family?" she said as she joined Daisuke, cross-legged on the bed.

" _Long time no see Riza! Good, good. Your Fiorean is better. Aren't I an awesome teacher? You?"_

"I could have been better. What about your mission?"

" _Oh my god. Don't get me started – "_

"Enough with the pleasantries. Lets get on with this" Daisuke spoke in smooth Al Bhed, reminding everyone to switch to Al Bhed too, or risk someone eavesdropping on their little discussion. He pulled out his parchment written in Sindarin, other scrolls and texts before giving Riza and Bookman-in-the-mirror a pointed look.

"Okay Riza, you probably don't know much about my mission, so here's the back story. The Grimoire is an ancient magical text created by a very powerful warlock whose name was lost through history. What we _do_ know is that he was the one who taught The Brother's Grimm, the legendary sorcerers. They were sworn to an oath by their Master on its _'true nature'_ , which I translated as ' _secrets'_ of The Grimoire. It was a bit ambiguous. The text is unreadable since it's written in a dead language. According to numerous accounts it contains the essence of every magic that has ever existed across time and space. So you can say that… our magic once belonged to the Grimoire" said Daisuke. "That may allude to its secret."

" _That's a deal-breaker"_ said Bookman.

 _"Ja, ja._ So is it here?" asked Riza, her hair already drying from her magic.

"Let me finish. Anyway, at one point in time The Grimoire was kept in the Isvan Royal Court." Daisuke circled the capital of Isvan on his map. "A revolution broke out and the Royal Family was murdered. The Palace was looted, but there was not a single record I could get of anyone finding The Grimoire before the palace was razed to the ground. It went missing. While researching in Hargeon, I found out that Princess Vasilisa was the only member of the royal family to survive the massacre. She must have had help from the servants and was smuggled out of the royal palace. She was only a little girl then. She documented in her diary everything that happened hence forth. She crossed the boarders to Fiore lugging around the…"

Daisuke stopped and pulled out a small tattered leather bound journal, flipping through the pages. The cover read the princesses name in the Isvan language, in flaking gilt cursive.

" _Oi. Is that like… her diary? The very same diary? Legit?"_ Bookman gasped.

"Yep"

" _I get dibs on it when you get back and for Etro's sake, be gentle with it!"_

Daisuke ignored him and read the passage from the ancient diary. "…'precious magical tome, bestowed upon by the almighty Wizard Brothers to the first King of Isvan, to protect until the end of time. Le Grammaire."

"The Grimoire" whispered Riza.

"She lived out her days anonymously with a servant girl as her companion in Hargeon town, under the alias Veronika. Hargeon town was just a fishing village around that time. The registry said she died alone and left all her worldly possessions to no one. Obviously by village law, the village head seized her possessions and just distributed it amongst the people because there was no next of kin. I found in the distribution records, as crude as it looked, that what I suspect, a black market dealer bought The Grimoire from one the village people and sold it to a wealthy merchant for a much higher price. That guy was from the, non-wizarding town of Wisteria, which now today is called Magnolia town."

Daisuke caught Riza stiffening her posture from the corner of his eyes. Was something wrong? Surely she couldn't be uncomfortable with a proper mattress and a feather blanket. Daisuke watched on, perplexed at her odd behaviour. Her honey brown eyes darted to the door and braced her arms on the bed. She released a breath, but Daisuke could tell she wasn't letting go of whatever caught her attention.

"What?" said an annoyed Daisuke.

"Nothing. Could the merchant even know the significance of _The Grimoire_? If even wizards could not read the Grimoire, how could someone from a non-wizarding town bother with it?"

" _There are many Grimoires published by a whole array of powerful wizards throughout the ages. They're basically like a comprehensive magical encyclopaedia. However, there is only 'one true Grimoire' and it's more than just an ancient encyclopaedia. It's the embodiment of all magical knowledge. He might just have wanted to have any pretty Grimoire as part of his collection. The language it was written in might still have been in use around that time, so mages could read it, but definitely extinct in our era. But you're right. There was no way he would know how sexy The Grimoire could be"_ explained Lavi.

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and then it was donated to the local library for some unknown reason many years later and under special storage. It's been kept there for hundreds of years before it was moved about a hundred years ago to Etro knows where."

"I heard from the locals that there was a massive fire at the town library" said Riza.

"A Black guild attack"

They could see that the red-head's face was screwed up in concentration. _"I think someone's caught wind of what we're doing"_

"Las Noches?!" hissed Riza. Daisuke hissed back a _'shush'_ reminding her that she was a free loading guest here.

" _Hmmmm…Not entirely sure. Could be a coincidence. What are they called?"_

"Blackheath. I doubt it's a coincidence though" said Daisuke.

" _Let me check up on that later. Anyway keep going"_

"When I discovered that The Grimoire had already been moved, I checked the records but they weren't kept in good condition for me to glean anything useful."

" _Well yeah, library records from the year 45. Mould and Mildew's buffet."_

"However I did find this" Daisuke smirked and unfurled the parchment closest to him. "I found the location of a tracking device that can lead us to The Grimoire. It seems a bit incomplete. It's written in Sindarin and I copied it down"

" _Show me?"_

Daisuke held the parchment up to the mirror for Bookman to inspect. He squinted to read the short paragraph and then his eyes lit up, like a light bulb.

" _You've got to be kidding me. I have the other half of the transcription from when I was with Smith's family!"_ exclaimed Bookman.

Daisuke and Riza raised their eyebrows.

" _Just our luck that my half and yours were the one and only! See the little symbol there? It's a marker for a second half"_

Bookman's giddiness was getting out of hand. He read Daisuke's half rapidly and then his eye hardened.

" _Hold on cowboy. I can't believe it. This is talking about the mystical Danes Compass. The Patriarch has been looking for this for years!"_

"The legendary compass that will point to whatever your heart desires, no?" asked Riza.

" _The one and only. This is so exciting!"_ squealed Bookman. _"Aaaaaand there's a catch though. The Danes Compass will point to anything else except The Grimoire. That is, unless you have it on the correct setting"_

"What the fuck? How do you know?" Daisuke said as he jolted from the bed.

 _"Well, at first reading my half didn't make any sense. But when you put the two halves of the transcript together it becomes a lot clearer and that's what it says from my interpretation. Oh man… another cock-block..."_ Bookman sighed in mock defeat.

Great, that was a bust. What a way for Bookman to get their hopes up, squealing about the Danes Compass to be the solution to finding The Grimoire. That back-up lead he just got today in the library turned out to be a red herring. Information about the compass was abundant compared to the elusive Grimoire. According to what he found, many sources recounted tails of mages leading expeditions, searching for the compass, with the sole purpose of hunting down The Grimoire. They clearly believed it was powerful enough to steer them to its location. Daisuke got up and went over to the kitchenette to make himself and Riza a cup of tea. He decided to bite his tongue on that matter.

" _Mmmhmm. The compass was created by the famous magic scholar, Hans Christian Anderson hundreds of years ago. What I got says that it will lead us to whatever we want EXCEPT The Grimoire. So we've got to modify the setting to lead us to it"_

That was something Daisuke definitely did not know until now, much to his chagrin.

"Why?" asked Riza.

" _Doesn't say why, but he was well known for hating the Brothers Grimm's guts. So it's anyone's guess"_ chuckled Bookman.

"So, how do we get the right setting on the compass?" asked Riza.

" _Hmm… well when I say modify, I mean altering its base functional properties using not necessarily legitimate magic principles?"_

 _"Fantastisch._ You plan to magic-hack the compass. How do you suppose you will achieve that? Last time I checked, you are not an elite _Archmage"_ Riza sniggered behind her hand.

" _Hey! Don't underestimate a Bookman. I haven't figured how to do that yet so you can't say shit about my skills. Besides, Gramps is an Archmage in case you've forgotten! It uses primordial magic. Very hard to manipulate, Riza. I mean the post-primordial magic you, your grandparents and uncles use is a lot easier to manipulate compared to this. How about you guys go ahead and look for the compass. Kill two birds with one stone."_

"We don't have a lot of time, Bookman…" said Daisuke from the kitchenette.

"Getting the compass will give us a better chance, no? Besides, with Lavi and his grandfather, they should be able to work out the compass setting with no problem"

" _Yeah, we can do that no problem"_

"You say that but…" growled Daisuke.

"Your trail ran cold at the Magnolia town library, no? Not to mention that half of it is demolished," said Riza, tipping her brow at him.

" _Just being tangential here, where was The Grimoire before it came to the Isvan Royal court?"_

Daisuke returned to the bed, grabbed the map and pulled out his charcoal pen. "Here, here, here, here and here. In order" He circled the cities labelled on the map one by one. He lifted it up to show Bookman through the mirror and placed it back down.

" _It's been traveling westward for centuries now. The most likely places it could turn up and possibly still be there is further west. Either the coastal town off the Minstrel Harbour or Caelum Island. They both have huge libraries and museums there"_

"I already thought of that. Traveling to both places take too much time" said Daisuke. He came back with freshly brewed tea and handed one cup to Riza.

"Now that I'm here, we can search one place each," she said, sipping on her tea.

"Yeah? Then we can just forget about the compass," said Daisuke.

"We need to decide now Daisuke," grumbled Riza.

Sometimes, he felt he needed a more pragmatic mind like Riza to lead a less stressful existence. The girl was one of the few technically-minded people he ever came across, making quick decisions in a heartbeat. He sighed. The Grimoire didn't necessarily have to be kept in libraries. It could be anywhere. In some dead wizard's tomb, in the filthy hands of a rich lord or hidden away in a temple or cave. It would take forever to search all the places. It could be left forgotten in the middle of nowhere, unknowingly abandoned until it passed away from legend. This was the most important quest they received from the Patriarch to date and there was no way he was going to fail this.

Daisuke set his cup down and unfurled the scroll some more, revealing a series of star names. Navigational stars. He didn't have the actual location and coordinates of the Danes Compass, but this was the closest he got. It was written in the ancient script of Sindarin, to his delight. The date of his source was well after the extinction of the race who read and wrote in Sindarin. Whoever penned down these Navigational Stars had their reasons for obscuring its location, clever bastard. He had the means for locating the Danes Compass, unlike The Grimoire.

Right in his hands.

"Fine, we go for the compass. I trust that you and your grandfather will crack the setting by the time we get it." Daisuke's tone was final.

Bookman nodded with absolute confidence.

 _"Alrighty, I'm going to report back to our Patriarch now. Peace out yo!"_ Bookman gave them a 'V' sign with his fingers and then the mirror glossed over, back to reflecting the room.

Daisuke quickly packed up his things and took both their cups to the sink. He turned back around and saw that Riza was already unrolling her sleeping bag and slipping in.

"Did we honestly have to go through all those details? I was only looking for what the next steps were, not your Fiorean adventure story." She grumbled.

"You have no appreciation for history" he grumbled back "Uh.. you can have the bed you know" he stood there staring down at her. He was raised to be a gentleman after all. Although perhaps a poor one.

"It is fine. I will have the floor, _Danke"_ with that, Riza turned the other way without another word.

* * *

The next morning, Daisuke woke up to the smell of something sweet, sour and salty, he yawned and stretched out the kinks, releasing the built up tension the last few days have brought. He remembered Riza and Bookman-in-the-mirror were here last night. He turned over to check up on Riza who was supposed to be sleeping on the floor beside his bed but to his utter surprise she was no where to be seen. He looked around and spotted a plate of sliced bread rolls, shaved cold cuts, a sweet pastry and a plate of _saurkraut_. Those were Riza's rations. Where was she? Daisuke ruffled his bed hair into his normal hair. He sniffed the air, trying to track the distinct smell of the assassin their Patriarch sent to accompany him amongst the sharpness of the _sauerkraut_ stink. Hmm, she was gone. Only small traces of her essence and magic lingered on the window sill, so she probably only left ten minutes ago at the most. She didn't even leave him a note. Typical…

' _Whatever, she probably went to scout the town. Better that she isn't here in Fairy Tail anyway'_.

He went to take a quick morning shower and sat at the kitchenette, picking at the cold cuts and pickled cabbage.

' _Ugh. How could she eat that stuff?'_ Pickling cabbage did NOT work.

He finished off the breakfast (except the pickled cabbage) set out for him by Riza and changed his clothes. The famous Master of Fairy Tail should have arrived back last night, or in the morning. Being one of the ten Wizard Saints, he must have some information on The Grimoire. Daisuke made sure to do some extra research on Fairy Tail. He couldn't be too careful. Right. He will take this opportunity to gather some more information.

If only he knew where Riza went.

With that last thought, he headed down the corridor.

* * *

"You clotz! I heard everything all the way from Clover Town! Did you really make a shambles of the town square while I was gone?!" the Master of Fairy Tail jumped up and down on the bench with steam blowing out of his ears.

"No Master, a black guild called Blackheath attacked the Town library and we finished them off before more damage could be done" said Erza.

"Is that true Jet and Droy?!" he yelled at the two frightened men.

"Y-Y-YES SIR!"

Th Mastered glowered at the duo for a full minute, the tension was too thick for any of Erza's blade to cut. He rolled back on his heels and replaced his angry old man face with a satisfied one.

"THANK GOD! Because I heard from the others in town that Fairy Tail went nuts and destroyed everything. Did anyone make sure that that the mayor knew it was NOT OUR FAULT this time?"

"Yes Master. Macau and Wakaba had a meeting with him along with Doranbolt from the magic council to explain everything" said Erza

"Hmm, good man. Well it's all water under the bridge now. As long as we're not the ones forking out collateral damage payments. I don't need more lovin' from our insurance". Master Markorov said, jumping off the bench "Well done kids!" he yelled slapping everyone on the arse.

"Hey! Why does he always do that?" yelled Cana.

"If anyone else needs me, I'll be in my office" sighed Markorov. "I've got some paperwork to burn, so don't disturb me unless it's an extreme emergency" he hopped up the stairs, heading towards his office.

When he reached the top, a sudden chill ran up his back. He breathed in a foreign type of magic that must have lingered on the top of the stairs for a while. It was a powerful magic. Hah. Youngster's these days.

"How long are you going to stand there, boy?" he asked coolly.

A pair of youthful emerald eyes glowed, sharp and uncanny.

"My name is Daisuke" the presence of the magic stepped out from the side the shadows. "You are the guild master of Fairy Tail and one of the Ten Wizard Saints of Fiore" his voice laced with doubt.

"Oho, you know me, do you?" Markarov chuckled.

The boy blinked rapidly. Markorov felt his eyes scanning him from head to toe, making no attempt to be discreet. It made the older mage grin wider. The boy quirked an eyebrow before nodding. Markorov found mages who didn't know him well found his status hard to swallow. He chuckled at the thought of this young man, Daisuke going through the same thinking process as those mages. Who would believe this loveable old geezer would be the one and only, Master of Fairy Tail _and_ one of the Fiore's top ten most powerful wizard? He himself admitted that he looked like something that could easily be trampled by a horse.

Markorov felt a lovely little chill encasing him.

' _Oh hello'_ Markorov internally chuckled.

He allowed the boy's magic to linger around himself. It was a sharp cold that grappled. It was still young magic, but was brimming with potential for great strength and mastery. It was poking and prodding Markarov's senses, again not being discreet at all. Markarov pressed out his magic, giving the same courtesy to the boy and revealing what his magic _meant_. All-consuming, gigantic, like a protective fortress that could protect his whole Fairy Tail. Markarov restrained the majority of the magic power, lest the young boy topple over. He could still feel the young boy's magic buffering against him, giving into his temptation to compete. Markarov almost laughed out loud. He could see his Adam's apple bob. Markarov made sure his magic was welcoming, not intimidating. Soon both mages withdrew their magic aura.

"Hmm. I haven't had a handshake like that in many decades" beamed the tiny master. The young boy's face morphed into a calm, neutral face. But his eyes glittered with respect.

"Could I have a moment with you?" he asked coolly.

"Yes, yes of course!" the Master beamed and ushered him to his office. Daisuke looked around, his skeptical face back in place.

"Erza's told me all about you and where you hail from. Interesting country, never heard of it though. She said it was imperative that I speak to you, young man, but I don't think it will be entirely necessary. Right?"

The young boy made himself comfortable in a chair "Just so you know, I had nothing to do with that dark guild attack yesterday"

"I know, I believe you. No guilds from around here have any affiliation with the mages in the East" said Markarov.

The young boy cleared his throat with his fist covering his mouth "Now that's out of the way, I'm doing a bit of research on something. I believe you might have some information I am looking for?"

"Depends on what it is?" Markorov settled himself on top of the desk, bring himself to eye level.

 _"The Grimoire"_

A pregnant pause passed through the air.

"That's just a fairy story about a magic book isn't it?" said Markorov

"Yes of course. It's a well known story in my country. As part of my culture-research I want to find out any relevance it has on the West" Daisuke continued to maintained a calm exterior.

"Sorry lad. Even with my advanced years, my wisdom doesn't extend that much to Eastern tales. I don't have much information to offer. I do however recommend that you try the Magical Library. It's just beyond Amherst Grasslands. Big, shooting tower. You can't miss it. It used to be funded by the Magic Council, but now it just sits there doing nothing. Shame really"

The young boy nodded.

"Thank you Fairy Tail Master, this will make my research go smoothly" Daisuke shook the Master's hand and flashed him a toothy grin, showing off his canines.

"Not at all lad" The Master accompanied him out the office, closing the door behind him.

The boy raised his nose ever so slightly and sniffed the air, his face in temporary thought.

"I'll be going out, got some souvenirs to buy" he offered another bright smile.

"Yes of course! Have fun, lad _"_

With that, the young mage named Daisuke slunk downstairs disappearing from view. The Master narrowed his eyes after Daisuke left. He was young, a highly skilled mage from the East. Markarov had encountered one once before. Long ago. It was an interesting meeting to say the least. If there was one thing he knew, nothing good came about when a mage sought The Grimoire.

Ever.

* * *

 **Well, Markarov didn't go as ballistic as the other Fairy Tailers when it came to hearing about Vana'diel haha. Riza possesses a strange verbal tick doesn't she lol. But I guess that's just part of her personality.**

 **OMG, now we know why Daisuke has travelled all this way to the West! To find The Grimoire!**

 **Let me know what your thoughts are! and I will see you in days.**

 **Signing -off**

 **Tripwire-dono.**


	4. Meddling

**Happy Easter Friday everyone!  
**

 **I am more than halfway through my placement now and I'm hopeful that I will pass :D Anyways, my parents, my sister, my friend and my boyfriend all went together to help choose a new car for my sister and I to drive. YES. MY FIRST CAR. I am in university and yet I don't have my own car and I still don't... The car dealership said that it would be open on Easter Friday according to their website, but NOPE we turned up there and it WASN'T =_= no nice, shiny new car for me today...**

 **At any rate, we'll try again next time. We are planning to get a Corolla Ascent :) Also, my boyfriend brought along his sports car and I hadn't seen his 180sx for a long time so it was super nice to take a ride in it with him again :)**

 **Welp! On with the story!**

* * *

 _Chapter 4 - Meddling_

"Damn, Happy what did you think of that cock fight?" Natsu looked up at Happy, walking down the street with a jaunty gait.

"It was ok, but you didn't bet much on the rooster, Natsu" Said Happy.

"Nah, gotta save money for Lucy's birthday present for when she gets back, you know"

"Well there goes your plan, you lost about six thousand jewels on that last round"

It only took Natsu a few seconds to think about how he would gain that back. What should he get for Lucy? She loved books, but her room was choc-o-block full of them. She could be so picky about what she liked to read. New clothes? She liked those light skimpy outfits, but the brands she wore were ridiculously expensive! Another key? Where the hell would he find one anyway? Food. Food was the answer. Food made everything better. He and Happy could totally split and treat her to a nice fancy dinner or a buffet and maybe get her some chocolates too. Although Happy would probably buy her some fish. Even better. He could get her one of those new auto-steam shoe-rack! It could be a really useful thing for when they complete missions and need to clean her shoes. He recounted the times they went to muddy terrains and came home coated in mud from head to toe. He would borrow it too of course. He was thinking of a really big one for her massive shoe collection. Plus a box of chocolates.

Speaking about food. A familiar tangy scent made its way into Natsu's nose. It was crisp and sweet like apples. Just like on the train station yesterday. It made his stomach churn in delight. There wasn't any fruit stand nearby, so there was only one answer to that scent.

' _It has to be…'_

"Happy, you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"Apples, like the green kind" Happy flew in a circle above Natsu's head trying to track down the scent. It looked like he was unsuccessful as he stared at him with confusion. Natsu traced the scent and found himself back at Fairy Tail. Maybe he should ask Mirajane if anyone new came to Fairy Tail today. Would asking her look odd? Well… he could find out another way. He tried circling the building to find that sweet spot, where the crisp scent was the strongest.

' _Right._.. _It seems to be coming from that window…'_

"Give me a lift, Happy" said Natsu,

"Aye sir" Happy activated Aera magic and hoisted Natsu up to the lip of the window. It was open just a tiny crack, so he slipped his nimble fingers through the gap and pushed it up. He jumped in, landing in a crouch. Now the scent was mixed with something sour & salty and ocean breezy. It made his head spin.

' _This smells like… is this Daisuke's room?'_ he thought. That 'ocean breezy' smell was definitely Daisuke.

He spotted some empty dishes in the kitchenette, emanating a strong odour. Wow, he had pickles for breakfast. That guy must have an appetite of steel! The three different scents were mingled everywhere. He was about to go snooping for the origin of the intoxicating apple smell when he was suddenly distracted by something gleaming, large and white on Daisuke's bedside table, tied to a cord.

He would recognise that object anywhere.

A _dragon's tooth._

' _Fuck, I knew it'_.

Daisuke was a dragon slayer just like him.

The distinct size and curve gave it away. Definitely dragon. Exactly like Igneel's when he was a boy. The only reason he knew a dragon would ever give his tooth away was a sign of everlasting promise for something. It was only given to someone they trusted with their life. Their mate or their dragon slayer.

It had been hard to tell if Daisuke was a dragon slayer and Natsu mulled over it for ages each night before he went to bed. He was busy with other things during the day to ask about it, and there were tonnes of distractions for his mind to bounce around with. But it was during the night that Natsu pulled himself in and began to _really_ think. The inkling grew stronger and stronger each time, but he was never completely sure. Why did Daisuke never give off the magic or scent of being a dragon slayer? Daisuke's slightly slit pupils, elongated canines, reptilian reflexes and head tilts seemed to indicate it he was of dragon magic, but he couldn't be to sure. Instead he only felt a strange brand of ice magic, not dragon slayer magic.

Natsu picked up the large tooth and turned it over in his fingers. It was cool to the touch.

His blood ran cold.

A cold hand gripped his ankle from underneath the bed.

 _"WOAH- OWW!"_

Before he knew it, he was flat on his back with something cold and sharp against his throat. His head cracked against the floorboards and his vision pulsed with eerie whiteness and he blinked rapidly to make it go away. There wasn't a moment to think and his brain's first reaction was a bedtime monster just grabbed him.

This was no monster and she was _beautiful_.

When the whiteness cleared, burning honey-brown eyes glared right back at him, filled with fire he would gobble up in a hurry. Her raven locks framed her face, strands sticking to her cheeks and around her mouth. The hand that yanked him by the ankles were pinning his shoulder to the floor with immense pressure. Phoar! She was pretty strong! She straddled him strategically, keeping his body immobile as if she had done this a million times. Her scent was overwhelming him and he just couldn't focus on anything else but her. His onyx eyes trailed down over her face. She had a pale and heart shaped face with a pointed nose. It flared every time she breathed deeply. He noticed there was an old scar running across it too, exactly like Rogue's. Those were the most perfect lips he had ever seen. Thin and smooth looking with a defined cupids bow.

"How long have you been tailing us, Las Noches _filth_?"

' _Say what?!'_ His ears pricked up at her rough voice. It was heavily accented. The dagger biting into his skin was stinging as she pressed a bit further, her nimble hand trained and controlled.

"Natsu!" screamed Happy. Her eyes never left Natsu's as she flicked another dagger in Happy's direction, pinning his knapsack to the wall. Happy was reduced to tears.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Natsu finally found his voice and yelled. Nobody tried to kill his friend under his watch! Or NOT under his watch for any matter.

Another cold dagger pressed just under his ribs, aiming to pierce his lungs and her slender body curved further against his own, fitting over him securely enough to keep him pinned flushed to the floor. She pressed his face closer to his.

"Answer my question or the next one gets his heart"

That's it.

In a fit of rage, Natsu bursted into flames and she flew back away with a surprised 'tch', covering her face with her arms. The fire licked at her skin with a promise of a severe pummeling from the fire-wielding mage. He pushed his hands to the floor behind his head and flipped back onto his feet. He bared his teeth and snarled at her before aiming a punch towards her head. She ducked and sommer-saulted out of the way and swung behind him. She was ready to sink her dagger into the back of his neck when he back-kicked her into the opposite wall.

"Bad mistake" he said, watching her intently as she recovered and crouched in an unfamiliar battle stance. "You don't know who you're messing with".

"Those are _my_ words" said the honey eyed girl.

"Oh yeah? I will be the one asking the questions here" Natsu didn't bother pumping his fists with magic. "After I beat you!" Natsu rushed at her, ready to grab and throw her to the floor.

She jumped up at head level, tucking one leg in and kneed him in the face with the other.

' _She's fast!'_ he thought as he recovered from the blow.

"You will get nothing from me", The girl swiped at his ankles to trip him but he jumped just in time.

They exchanged blow for blow at maddening speeds. Natsu scrutinised each move, predicting what will come next, but this combat style was totally different to his usual brawls and freestyle fighting. He was having difficulty reading her punches and kicks, he had to rely on his reflexes and guts to dodge even more than usual. There wasn't even enough time to pump up his magic! It was so fluid, precise, refined and _definitely_ experienced. Natsu round-housed to her face, but she blocked his leg before skidding forward and thrusting her palm into his chest.

The air rushed out of him and he almost blacked out! Natsu's back collided into the wall, narrowly missing Happy. His chest constricted and he could suddenly feel blood pooling into his mouth.

"You will not stop us" she approached him with another dagger in her hand.

"What the fuck are you spewing about?" Natsu clutched at his chest and spat out some blood. What kind of combat magic did she use in her hands that literally ruptured internal blood vessels in his thorax?

"Which one are you allied with under Las Noches? Silver Cavalry? Cormorant Strike? Wind Scar? Or _Blackheath?_ I will use your corpse to send your Master a message!" She charged forward only to receive a punch to the gut.

Natsu reeled at the list of familiar Dark guild names. She thought he was one of those foul dark guild mages? What the hell for?! She also said _Blackheath_. That name boiled his blood. She knew something about them.

"I have no idea what this _Las Noches_ shit is, but you're dealing with a Fairy Tail mage here. Now what the hell do you know about Blackheath?!" the last move got Natsu's breath more ragged and he dropped to one knee. He was just getting fired up with this hard and fast fighting, but that palm to the chest was bloody painful.

She gasped and clutched her stomach. Her face contorted in surprise and her mouth formed a small 'o' and her eyes widened. Natsu caught her staring at his guild mark on his bicep and he could see the realisation dawn on her face. Contempt swelled in his chest. Her hair brushed across her face delicately from the motion of standing up. Natsu could feel her killing intent slowly dissipate but replaced by… wariness.

"You… are a Fairy Tail mage?" she asked steadily.

"Yeah, I'm Natsu Dragneel. A fire Dragon Slayer" Natsu twisted his shoulder to show her his guild symbol. "For the last damn time, what the the hell do you know about Blackheath?"

She looked momentarily stunned before her expression passed over to sheepish. Natsu watched curiously as she slowly brought her arms down and relaxed her fingers from their clenching. That was the first time he got a good look at her body. She was wearing a tight fitting red halter with a wide black piece of cloth wrapped across her stomach securing everything in place. A white leather cord was wrapped around the wide belt as well with a bow in the front. His memory didn't conjure up any of the Fairy Tail's girls clothing that could resemble this one. Maybe one of Erza's armour-that-didn't-look-like-armour ones, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure. Natsu was glued to the overall shape. She was definitely fit, slender and her arms were toned. Her thighs were corded with muscle sculpted for agility and she donned black tight fitting shorts underneath that reached her knees.

She only reached his chin. But he knew now not to underestimate her strength.

"My… apologies. I thought you were… a foe" she said softly.

She definitely did an about-face.

Natsu reached behind him and pulled out the dagger that secured Happy to the wall. The blue cat landed with a plop in his awaiting arm, breathing deeply with fright. He glared at her furiously and snapped the dagger into pieces, shrapnel cutting his palm. He sniffed apprehension, mingled with her crisp apple scent.

"I don't really give a fuck what this _Las Noches_ is. But you crossed the line when you even _thought_ of hurting my friend, Happy" he growled back. The need for punishment was pushing in the forefront of his mind, but he held back.

"What were you doing in Daisuke's room?" she interrupted.

He blinked. Daisuke? Ice-boy Daisuke? Oh crap, he forgot!

"Wh-What were _you_ doing in his room? You just came out from under the bed!"

"I was here first! And _you_ intruded through the window! I thought you were the enemy"

The gears in his head were clicking at snail's pace. So she knew Daisuke and was for some reason in his room, thinking someone was after them. The thought made his mind race. If she wasn't going to spill about what the hell was up with Blackheath first, then she better be prepared for the second order of the day.

"Say sorry to Happy"

Her eyelids fluttered in confusion. "What..?"

"Say sorry to Happy" he pointed to the blue cat heaving on the floor "Say sorry, then we're even"

She stared at Happy, looked up at Natsu, then Happy and back and forth repeatedly. The salmon-haired flame wielder crossed his arms across his muscled chest and had a serious and unarguable stern look. His eyebrows knitted together, waiting for her remorseful apology.

Her nose scrunched up the way Lucy sometimes did after he burped. Was apologising disdainful to her? But the more she looked at the frightened and distraught blue cat, his eyes blown up wide and filled with tears, her eyes soften ever so slightly.

He bet she felt a twinge in her heart.

"I am sorry little one. I had sorely mistaken you and your friend for an enemy", she bent her body stiffly in a slight bow.

Happy just gave a shaky nod and crept behind Natsu's legs.

"I ask again. What are you doing in Daisuke's room?" She repeated her question, shackles rising again

"…T-That's none of your beeswax" There was no way in hell he was telling her he was skipping around sniffing things. "Now it's your turn to answer _my_ question!" he yelled back. He couldn't believe he was side-tracked for just now!

"He is my _kamerad_. Any business you have with him, it has to do with me," she narrowed her eyes, clearly ignoring his question.

There was that fire in her eyes again. Natsu unconsciously licked his lips. Just as he opened his mouth, the door was slammed open.

* * *

Daisuke could murder half the people in Magnolia town right now. He was gone for just an hour and his room suddenly filled up with too many god damn people for his liking.

' _Where did they bloody come from?! What the hell is Riza doing showing her face to people! She isn't supposed to show her face to people! What the fuck is the flame mage doing there too!?'_ He screamed internally

Daisuke could feel a migraine creeping in.

"Umm… I see you… have just arrived… Riza…"

' _Make something up, make something up, make something up. Bullshit your way through like Bookman does'_ He repeated the mantra in his head.

He turned towards the other person, Dragoneel standing beside his bed. "And what are you doing in my room?!"

"What? So she's your traveling research buddy or something?" Natsu gave him a surprised look, completely evading the question.

"…yes"

"And you know something about Blackheath after all, huh? We trusted you Daisuke and I'm done scrounging for answers. A lot of people were hurt in that attack you know! And Lucy was one of them!"

"I have no guilt on my conscience. That was an isolated incident from me. Listen carefully Dragneel." Daisuke stepped up to Natsu, his head reaching his nose. "Stay out of our way. You don't want to be apart of _what we do_ ".

Natsu gritted his teeth "Incident? _Incident_?! That was an _attack_ you bastard. Not some public nuisance!" Natsu watched him scoop up the dragon's tooth from the beside and securely wrapped it around his wrist. He remembered now.

"And another thing too" Natsu growled out. _"You're a dragon slayer"_

Daisuke froze at the door.

"But you don't feel like one" he continued.

Daisuke tuned everything out. His heartbeat roared in his ears and his lungs constricted.

 _How dare he._

Insurmountable anger and disgust coursed through his body at Dragneel's words and he barely kept his control. The growling in the back of his mind grew bigger and he quickly shut it down. He was angry. A painful anger. He made everyone around him back home vow to never associate himself with that Godforsaken title as long as he breathed and a hundred years after his death. Unwanted memories started bleeding through the fortress of his mind, which he exhausted many years to build. He began systematically shutting those damned memories down each and every time. All they brought was pain and a life lost forever. His palms began to sweat as he clutched his sword hard enough to make it shake in his hand. He instinctively curled back his lips in a loathing snarl.

The room grew chilly and a minuscule layer of ice crystallised on the corridor walls, causing the wood to contract and release a series of crackling whines.

 _"Don't… ever… Call. Me. That"_

Without another word, he made his way down the corridor, leaving behind an utterly confused Dragneel. He didn't give a flying fucking fuck about whatever else the god forsaken Fairy Tail mage had to say, all he cared about was getting this mission done and leave Fiore for good. Away from meddling Fairy Tail and dumb Dragon Slayers.

"FIRE DRAGON'S –"

 _"Nicht!"_

Daisuke's face hit the floor as something heavy landed on his back. He was seeing stars before he realised that Riza had tackled him. "What the fuck?!"

"- ROAR!" A stream of fire blasted just centimetres over their heads and into the opposite wall.

He was released from the weight and scrambled up. He turned around to see Riza's body in front of him with daggers out at the ready and Dragneel's eyes filled with a familiar smouldering pain.

"You're a Dragon Slayer. Don't deny it, bastard"

 _"What's it to you?!"_ Daisuke shouted. He unsheathed his _katana_ from his back and held it out to his side. Frost ghosted just on the tip.

"Daisuke…" Riza sighed, turning her head to check up on him. Her honey-brown eyes reflected a cautious worry.

"I'm looking for my Dragon named Igneel. Have you seen him?" Natsu stepped towards them, but she stood her ground, blocking him from getting to Daisuke

"Never heard of him" Daisuke murmured.

"All the other dragon slayers' in the guild dragons disappeared on the seventh of the seventh, year 777 too. We've been searching for them ever since"

Daisuke shielded his eyes behind his snowy hair. "That godforsaken dragon of mine didn't disappear. _He abandoned me"_

He swung his sword up, barely touching Riza's shoulder and resting it just below her right ear. He heard her gasp and he could feel the steel humming to life. Making sure the blade wasn't touching her carotid was the furthest from his mind, he only concentrated on keeping it dead-trained on Dragoneel's throat in front of himself and Riza. Riza didn't even turn around, only keeping still. His breath still felt shaky from his tightly controlled killing intent, he could see the hair rise on the back of Riza's neck from his peripheral vision, but she kept stone still. Everyone knew about his downright formidable swordsmanship, but that didn't seem to intimidate Dragoneel one bit.

"Then why do you still keep your dragon's tooth?"

Daisuke gritted his teeth. It was an incredibly sensitive topic that no one dared breach about in his family.

 _Family_

He didn't need his dragon. He had family.

"Enough" both boys looked forward at the sound of Riza's calm voice. "Can you not see that he does not want to talk about it?" she placed a finger on the flat side of the _katana_ and pressed it down to the side, away from Dragneel and herself.

Dragneel backed down.

"Riza. We're leaving" with a flurry of his cloak, Daisuke stomped downstairs, not even glancing at her.

* * *

Riza and the fire d _rachen_ slayer remained upstairs, a lot of unanswered questions floating between them along with confusion and Daisuke's residual anger.

She stood there staring at the fire _drachen_ slayer. It had been a long time since Daisuke was riled up this badly. Everyone back home knew not to talk about his missing _drachen_. He had went through great hardship as a young boy, with nothing but his dragon's tooth to keep his hatred and sadness alive, hiking through blizzard mountains, scorching desserts and everything in between in search of his _drachen_. Only to _grow up and give up_.

Riza stepped forward and was about arms length away from the fire dragon slayer.

"He is greatly pained from the disappearance of his _drachen_. He gave up searching after many bitter years when he found a new family and… and that is all that matters to him now."

 _"_ Dra...chen?" the pink haired mage tilted his head to the side in confusion.

 _"Ja._ My tongue for your word of 'dragon'. _Drachen"_ Unlike Daisuke, she was native in _Deutsch._ She glanced up at him, seeing if there was any acknowledgement or understanding, but he stared at her.

"Doesn't sound like he moved on" The fire _drachen_ slayer pressed further after a momentary pause. "He could join us and look for our dragons too. Tell him that he wasn't abandoned. They all went missing at the same time"

Riza could only admire the fire _drachen_ mage's tenacity. His utter devotion to his _drachen_ and the comradeship he is willing to build with the ice-prick Daisuke to help search for _his_ was something Riza felt was admirable at best.

But alas, it was not her business.

"A dragon's bond isn't something you can just throw away like that" said Dragneel as he stepped forward, shortening the distance between them. His eyes bore into hers.

"Well apparently. You can" said Riza softly. She turned away and went back into the room.

"I pray that we never meet again" was the last thing she said before leaping out the window, leaving behind a frustrated _drachen_ slayer.

* * *

Markarov paced up and down his office. It had been a week since the young Eastern mage was here and suddenly up and left, leaving behind some confusion and a few shrugs before normality settled once again. His last moments in Fairy Tail were snappish and filled with curt replies according to Erza and Mirajane. Whatever happened to the young man was beyond him. Most put it down to being part of his icy personality. On the same day, Natsu was in a bit of a pickle too. He had taken Happy to the infirmary where he was resting his poor noggin. The cat seemed to have suffered a psychological trauma which he and Natsu had been telling everyone about in sight. Mirajane wasn't too happy with the fight upstairs and a singed wall. He only heard bits and pieces of it when he came back from his meeting with Jura and Doranbolt.

Natsu was throwing up words like Cormorant Strike, Silver Cavalary, Wind Scar and Blackheath, which were all dark guild names the councils were _very_ familiar with. He also mentioned Daisuke was a dragon slayer and had a female comrade who was aiding him. Another mysterious word Natsu spoke of after he calmed down was 'Las Noches', which Markarov didn't remember seeing on the magic council's dark guild Wanted List. It was a name Doranbolt mentioned and is undergoing investigation. They all seemed to be pursuing enemies of Daisuke.

He had to always miss the hub-bub every time he was somewhere else!

Markarov groaned. Not only that, but that Eastern young mage lied about pretty much everything through his teeth and he was foolish enough to turn a blind eye with good intentions for his guild. It no longer mattered now, because Blackheath was eventually booked by the Magic Council and systematically interrogated as conspirators to a string of attacks across Fiore and the young boy was long gone. He would wait for more information from Doranbolt.

The Fairy Tail master removed his reading glasses and pushed his paperwork aside. The Grimoire was only a myth. A story that was just passed around across the history of time. None had ever laid eyes upon the magical text as far as he knew. Having an appointment with Jura of Lamia Scale was not as beneficial as he had thought. Jura turned his nose up at the mention of a present day mage searching for the mystical text and brushed it off as a kid chasing after an imp, declaring that there was no chance anyone could find The Grimoire. He didn't have much information on it anyway.

Markarov himself had asked about The Grimoire at one point when he was a young man. Just out of curiosity.

' _You shouldn't be asking such things. Purge your mind from it. The Grimoire is a deadly book filled with false promises for greedy wizards. Nothing good comes out of searching for The Grimoire'_

That was all the ex-master of Fairy Tail had to say about The Grimoire fifty odd years. He was forbidden to talk about it again. It made a lot of sense his ex-master's abolished guild was The Grimoire's namesake though. Every self-respecting mage during his time had heard of The Grimoire. Many wizards lost interest since it was well established that it was an unattainable book. He himself had done a bit more research to quench his curiosity. It started as a hobby, but then escalated into a fascination until his research plateaued.

When that Daisuke lad had asked about The Grimoire the other day, Markarov made sure to keep his brows from dipping. He had that determined and hungry look. Markarov knew immediately that it wasn't a so-called 'culture-research'. He had heard better excuses than that. He wasn't a doddering old fool. The way Daisuke tilted his head and scrutinised him sent a shiver up his spine. In hindsight, he knew he should have told him straight up to stop the nonsense and that he was better off leaving the lost book, lost.

Lost things were lost for a reason.

Something told him that this young lad already knew the consequences and wouldn't let anything stop him. He was thirsty for more knowledge just like any scholarly mage and even though that was an excellent state of mind, it was also dangerous when limits weren't set in place. Markarov pondered on the subject some more. That old curiosity was re-kindling in his chest. The boy was from the East so he was bound to have more diverse information about the book. Maybe if he could just… _no_.

It was time to give a private mission to the best team of Fairy Tail.

Markarov hopped off his desk and bounced his way down the second floor to retrieve his favourite team.

"Natsu! Gray! Erza! Wendy! Come to my office now!"

Gray glanced up from his beer and Erza stopped conversing with Mirajane. Natsu scarfed down the rest of his lunch and Wendy stood at attention. Everybody else in the guild looked on in curiosity. If Fairy Tail's strongest team were called upon by the master, something big was happening.

"Hurry up flame-brain" Gray grabbed him by the vest and tried to drag him up.

"Hey, hands off before you lose them" Natsu pried his fingers from his vest.

"Get going people" Erza strode briskly up the stairs, not waiting for her comrades.

"Yes!" said Wendy, scrambling up with Charles close behind.

Once all of them were inside the office, he locked the door. Each one grew more befuddled as to what was in store for them.

"What is it Master?" asked Erza.

"As you know, we had a strange visitor last week and I suspect that there is more to his culture-research than he lets on"

"I knew it!" Gray fist pumped the air "He didn't feel right. I reckon he's part of some dark guild"

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I'm giving you all a mission" said Markarov.

The room erupted into noise and his favourite mages threw questions at random at him. He silenced them by raising his hands.

"So what is the mission about?" spluttered Wendy.

"This mission is about our friend Daisuke. Before he left, he asked me in private what I knew about The Grimoire, saying it was part of his 'culture research' which was codswallop. No one should be asking about The Grimoire in this day and age. Looks like he's on a quest to search for The Grimoire. I suspect that's what's catalysing the events unfolding before our eyes. I doubt any of you youngsters have heard of it"

They shook their heads.

"Bear with me and I'll explain. It's an ancient magical text and the most powerful the world has ever known. Its origins is sketchy, but sources pointed it to be from the East. Only the older and wiser mages know about it and it is known to us as a myth. Unfortunately, I fear that it mayn't be after all."

"So you want us to get the book before he does?" asked Gray.

"No. I want you guys to catch up to him, observe him and find out why he's going after it"

"Why?" Erza folded her arms together.

"I fear this quest will unleash a new danger. The Grimoire contains all the magic of the world. More ancient and more powerful than Zeref's Book could ever hope to be. It grants the user complete knowledge of the magic arts, but at a price. We all know what happens when someone bargains for power that is not theirs… Erza, what's wrong?" Erza's worried expression hinted that there was something gnawing at her.

"One of the mages I fought from Blackheath mentioned they were after the Black Bible. I had assumed it was Zeref's book, but looks like I was wrong. They must've meant The Grimoire. If The Grimoire is worse than Zeref's book, we're going to need much more intelligence" said Erza.

"'Worse' is a subjective term, Erza" said Markarov. "The Grimoire is just... a _vessel_ of the knowledge and power. Just like any book is only a medium for a story. It's how you draw meaning from it and apply it, that will brand its worth."

"Alright, a mission! My conversation with Daisuke ain't done yet!" Natsu punched the air.

"It will be a covert operation Natsu" said Erza.

"What's a 'covert'?" he turned to her.

" _Anyway_. It's not that I think Daisuke is up to no good. He is endangering himself and possibly the rest of the world if he gets his hands on that book.

"Understood" said Erza.

"I'll warn Doranbolt about Cormorant Strike, Wind Scar and Silver Cavalry's involvement. Hopefully the Magic Council will be able to take care of them. Looks like those dark guilds know about Daisuke and his quest. There is no way Fiorean guilds would know about this without support from the East itself" Markarov said gravely.

"Perhaps there are evil mages in his country that are after him" Wendy interjected. "I think this quest of his is to recover the Grimoire as a powerful weapon."

"That's a very good theory Wendy. Any halfwit would know they can't take on such powerful magic by themselves, so his guild or must be the benefactors of this quest." Smiled Markarov like a proud grandfather. "He has a week head start over you. I've directed him towards the Magic Library, which you were there for one of your adventures, Erza."

Everyone nodded again remembering how they were trying to gather the clock pieces with Lucy and Michelle.

"Daisuke has another guild member who recently arrived to support him. Isn't that right Natsu?"

"He sure did"

"So who knows what other back-up he's got or when they'll turn up. Get moving kids!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Daisuke drank eagerly from the brook that passed across his way. He had yet to hear from Riza who was scouting ahead to see if there were anyone suspicious around. He replenished his water bag and took the moment to observe his surroundings.

He had seven nights of fitful sleeps.

That fire mage had gone and done it, bringing up unwanted, hated and buried memories. The ruby red eyes of his dragon haunted his dreams and shook him awake each time in a blanket of cold sweat. It had been more than ten years since he had seen his dragon. He had already accepted the fact his _shishou_ was never coming back. He could have been dead already for all he cared.

Daisuke crouched onto the rock which was lodged on the side of the brook and rested his ears tightly on its warm surface. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Hmmm Riza's not coming back yet.

 _Lenalee_

All he needed was Lenalee. Seeing her again through his lacry-mirror-com brightened his exhausting journey, but right now it was too risky to make a social call back home. The light of his life, his rock and support. She was all he needed and nothing else mattered. He smiled at the thought of his sweetheart. Daisuke allowed himself that moment of reprieve before Riza got back.

He had already berated her for showing her face to someone in Magnolia town. He made it very clear that she should always tell him her whereabouts. Not that he was trying to control her movements, but that girl was just too damn unpredictable! She never told anyone what she was doing and that frustrated him. She was the grand-daughter of an expert marksman and flame alchemist, he guessed it was in her blood to take the initiative in everything she damn liked.

Also how could she make such a stupid mistake as attacking the Fairy Tail mage, thinking he was one of Las Noches' mages? Riza _never_ made tactical errors. At least not stupid ones. Was she not thinking clearly or something?

It was harder to calm down. Daisuke created a layer of frost on his forehead. Yes that should do it. Retain the calm and cold exterior he had built a lifetime ago. Alright, he could think straight again. He tightened the cord that held the dragon's tooth around his wrist, making sure it was secure. He got up from the rock and made his way back up to camp.

He only had his belongings to pack up, he had no idea what Riza did with hers. She probably slept in the trees and stashed her stuff in some owl's hole or something. He could feel it now. Riza was returning. He only had to wait a few more minutes before hearing the sound of feet on grass.

"How did it go?" he said in smooth Al Bhed.

"There is a coastal town not too far away from here and a main road that skirts around it. There should be a docking station for boats over there. I saw some cargo being carried on the main road." She reported.

"Right"

"Are you not worried that Fairy Tail will come after us?"

"Nah, their guild master thinks I'm heading to the Magic Library. We'll have _absolutely no problems_ regarding that "

"Ohhh, I see, I see" she snickered behind her tattooed hand.

She was getting better at reading his double entrendes. How annoying.

"So, we find the compass. Then what? We wait for Lavi to magic-hack the setting?" she asked.

"Yeah. He should be able to instruct us over the lacry-mirror-com to get the setting on the compass when the time is right"

"How long is that going to take?"

Far out. She asked too many questions for his liking.

"Who knows"

Tense silence filled the air. He sighed. "I'm over it now Riza. Just lost my cool is all"

She nodded "But you know. If what he said was true… perhaps-"

"It's okay" he said calmly. "All I need are you guys back at home. You know, that Bookman, Lena-best-girlfriend-ever-lee, Sweary-dunce, Amputee, Useless-Bitch-face and Dicta-tor-tle" he smirked.

"They are hardly flattering nick names for us all" Riza said in annoyance.

"By the way, Sweary-dunce calls you _Butch_ and it's rather catchy _"_ Daisuke wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Seriously…" Riza groaned. "Do you have one for our Patriarch?"

"Hmm… It's hard to think of one... Grog Blossom?"

Riza guffawed and slapped him in the back, sending him forward a couple of a steps. That stung like a bitch and he was about to turn around and rip her a new one, but seeing her laughing and smiling at his never-ending wit was pretty awesome. He straightened himself out walked in the direction from where Riza came from.

"Come on, let's go so we can book good accommodation" he called out.

"Sure" Riza held up two fingers to her face and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

 **And there we have it :D**

 **So as mentioned before, Vana'diel speaks in 3 different languages. "Al bhed" is the one everyone knows, "Deutsch" is what Riza speaks and "Hyōjungo" is what Daisuke speaks. So Riza and Daisuke speak in Al bhed together because it's easiest.  
**

 **Looks like we get Master Markarov's perspective on the Grimoire and what he thinks Daisuke is up to haha! And now Daisuke and Riza had given them the slip. But worry not, Fairy Tail won't have the wool pulled over their eyes for long.**

 **Well, have a Happy Easter everyone! Let me know what you guys think of the story and I will see you in 7 days!**

 **Signing off**

 **-Tripwire-dono**


	5. It Will Go Wrong

**Good evening to all my little koalas, aka, YOU GUYS! :D**

 **The hospital has been so intense... intense as in, case conferences for 3 HOURS, was a killer for my bum. Because I can't sit still and listen to doctors discuss patients for 3 hours without getting up to rub my sore behind because, seriously, sitting on a chair for so long is pretty HURTS. But that's just me. On a happier not, one of my out-patients gave me a flower because I just had my final therapy session with him~ (I'm doing a speech pathology degree btw).**

 **I hope you've been well. I think by the time this chapter is up, it will be April Fools day for some parts of the world. Just had April Fools stake out in the department today. Making sure no one plays a prank on me because seriously, someone will have to call the medical team to revive my heart. I can't deal with pranks lol.**

 **Anyways, enough about me. Here's the next chapter!**

* * *

 _Chapter 5 - It Will Go Wrong_

Natsu wasn't the same without Happy. His best bud was down for the count and Lucy was temporarily out of the game, leaving him with Erza, Gray and Wendy who were entrusted along with him with this delicate mission. Team Fairy Tail decided it was a good idea to park on Amherst Grasslands to catch their breath before continuing onward to the Magic Library. Erza had spread a picnic filled with delicious grub which both she and Wendy eagerly tucked in. Everyone made themselves comfortable and dug into Erza's cooking, except Natsu. Natsu didn't feel hungry. Truth be told, he gorged himself at the local tavern before he left with everyone, so he was in a comfortable state. His mind was far too occupied to relay a message to his stomach to make further room for Erza's food, which was very unusual. His stomach should always be making room for more food. He settled himself a few metres away from them and did the only thing to clear his mind. Sit ups and push ups.

"Hey Lava-mouth, would you stop with the buffing up? Come and eat something before Erza inhales it all" yelled Gray over the noise of Erza's impulsive eating.

"Yeah, be there in a sec!"

Natsu sighed in annoyance. His ear pricked up at the tell-tale sounds of Wendy's and Erza's hushed discussion behind his back.

 _"Erza, don't you think it's about time we should approach Natsu? He's so quiet and I'm not used to it…"_ asked Wendy.

 _"Let him go through his own paces, Wendy. Best not to rush him. But if his behaviour starts affecting the mission, I'll beat it out of him"_ said Erza calmly.

Being a dragon slayer meant he had very acute hearing, so he was able to garner what was being said about him.

' _Well I gotta admit I haven't been a hundred percent myself…'_ he thought.

Natsu knew his comrades were concerned about him. He just had to figure this out about Daisuke. Talking about it with the others will only end in drowning him with long-term life advices like those crock-a-shit therapists do for a living. He didn't roll that way. He felt… this was a dragon slayer-to-dragon slayer matter. As much as he felt an unfriendly indifference from Daisuke, they were still kindred.

Daisuke was hurting inside and was caging it all in, he could tell. And then there was this shady girl. He could clearly see her in his mind.

Her eyes were filled with a raging strength and swirling strong emotions that fired up his insides. She was beautiful. It wasn't glamourous and overt like Lucy, Erza and all the girls in the guild where their radiance and unabashed sexuality rubbed itself in everyone's face. That girl was actually pretty if anyone could look closely enough, like clear, clinking ice in his fire whisky. Natsu shook his head. He did _not_ just compare her to his alcoholic drink. That was weird. The itchiness in his brain felt stronger the more he thought about her. Natsu had always been a good judge of character, easily sussing out someone's personality and intentions which he learnt at an early age from Gildartz. This girl was brimming with rage for some _'Las Noches'_ thing she was fixating on and that made his stomach jump into his throat. He wondered what she was like if she wasn't out for blood.

As much as he felt this curiosity towards her, she knew Blackheath somehow, the Dark guild that tore the centre of Magnolia apart. He will get to the bottom of that no matter what!

' _Ahhh! This is stupid! Keep your eyes on the money Natsu. We need to scope out Daisuke'_ he internally berated himself. He reassured himself that Master Markarov was looking into that.

"Natsu! Come back, we're going to review the plan once we get to the Magic Library" Wendy called over, waving her arms.

"Would you please dry off first? Your sweat can be so vulgar" huffed Charles.

Natsu felt his stomach finally nagging him for more food. He shook off the sweat much to Charle's disgust and made his way to the picnic blanket. He grabbed five chicken legs, seven cheesy rolls and an apple before settling down. He threw them all into his mouth at once.

"You want a diet cola with that?" asked Gray.

"Hmmummmph!" came Natsu's muffled reply.

"Ok, people. Take these"

Erza handed them each a tarot card with their names and caricature faces on it.

"Cana was kind enough to lend us her cards. We'll use it to communicate. All you need to do is place the cards to your mouth and talk. Anyone who finds anything noteworthy from Daisuke or the girl, report immediately and observe everything they do. Don't engage in any fighting"

"Observing only? That's so hard!" cried Natsu through mouthfuls.

"What if they spot us?" asked Wendy.

"Stall them. Tap on the card and we'll be there" said Erza answered without missing a beat.

"Sounds simple and easy enough" smirked Gray.

"Alright. Let's pack up and keep going" said Erza.

While Natsu was back to bantering with Gray to their relief, Erza thought about what The Master told her just prior to departing on their mission...

...

* * *

" _If Daisuke's actions pose to be a threat, bring him back to Fairy Tail, by any means. It is in Fiore's and the rest of the world's best interest that this quest of his cease, regardless whether it is to help his guild or destroy his enemies. The boy is very intelligent. He definitely understands the danger of his quest and I believe he is smart enough not to attempt to use The Grimoire for himself"_

" _Do you know anything about the East, Master?" Erza had asked._

 _Master Markarov, diverted his eyes to the floor. His face had a very serious and nostalgic expression, as if whatever memory he was conjuring up was also weaved with regret and sorrow._

" _A long time ago I had a very brief encounter with a mage who claimed he was from the East. He was exploring Fiore because it was a strange new place to him. He barely knew our language, so couldn't communicate much. Anyway, Eastern magic is vastly unknown to us and I'm afraid even most of the Ten Wizard Saints have no measure on how strong Eastern magic can be. Unknown magic is the most dangerous kind so you must be very careful. Our friend Daisuke is highly skilled in this magic and he possesses a phenomenally keen sense. A sort of hyper-magic sense capability if you will, which he wields with great mastery so you must be even more careful"._

* * *

...

... So the Master was more suspicious than he let on. Erza was perturbed by the fact that Master was somehow defending Daisuke's actions. But she trusted the guild master above all else, so she pulled aside her worries. Top priority was the mission. Observe, find out and then report. If need be they will fight it out and drag his icy arse back to Fairy Tail.

"Look! We're here" said Wendy.

Erza caught a glimpse of the tip of the majestic spiralling tower shooting up above the tree line, piercing the heavens. Erza sighed at the memory of the last time she was here. She barely had the chance to admire the beautiful architecture or the grand magic aura it gave off. She wondered if Levy had gone to check it out yet. She would definitely flip.

Erza halted the carriage and took out some blue lacryma crystals.

"Okay Gray, put these Security-Lacrymas fifty metres out from each octagonal point of the tower. These lacryma crystals will project an invisible tripwire between each other and will alert us for any trespassers who trip it. We can't be too careful. When you're done come join us in the library" commanded Erza. She revealed a set of dull purple lacryma crystal from one of the many bags she was dragging with her.

Gray nodded and took the bag from her. They were about the size of yoyo, meaning they could be easily concealed in the surrounding forest.

Natsu's face split into a grin "Yosh! I'm all fired up now!" Erza grabbed his hair before he started bulldozing in, blowing their cover.

Erza gave him a deathly look and opened the doors with a mighty push. The solid doors groaned. Air filled with dense magic and the smell of old books oozed out.

It was silent

Their footsteps didn't echo, probably because of the curvature of the book spines lined up absorbing and muffling the sound waves. That could work to their advantage. That could also work to _Daisuke's_ advantage.

"I will take the first to fifth level. Natsu will take level six to ten, Gray will take eleven to fifteen and Wendy and Charles will take sixteen to twenty. Each of us will have a wide area to cover. I'll send Gray a message now" Erza lifted her card and spoke into it, relaying her message to Gray so he knew what to do once he finished setting up the perimeter.

"Understood?"

"Yes"

"Yep"

"Excellent. Let's scatter" said Erza

Everyone took off into their designated area. The magic library was constructed to have reinforced bridges linking each balcony from north to south, east to west. It spiraled upwards and got thinner and thinner as it shot up. The bridges spanning above crossed and spiraled over each other, making it difficult to get a proper visual. And for anyone who fell, it was a nasty business also. Erza thought that since the upper levels got thinner than the bottom ones, Wendy and Charle should be enough to take care of that. The lower levels had so much ground space, she was sufficient enough to cover it.

The biggest issue she could only think of was Natsu being as loud as anything and blow their cover. She watched with forced confidence as her comrades climbed the stairs or flew up. The outcome of this mission was anyone's guess.

* * *

Gray huffed as he reached his level. He had received Erza's message via his tarot card in the nick of time, just when he finished setting up the Security-Lacrymas. He skirted around the shelves and made sure to suppress his magic aura as much as possible or risk getting caught out. It took more than he thought to clear the eleventh and twelfth level. The levels were so high in between! And there were so many crevices and niches that needed to be checked out too. Setting up the perimeter had probably set him back a bit compared to his team members. He wasn't going to lose to flame-brain!

Suddenly a tingle went up his back. There was a magic presence on one of his levels. He looked down towards the gaping hole in the centre of the tower. It had to be at least a 17 storey drop. He just had to find Daisuke and spy on him. Shouldn't be too hard.

Gray finally pin-pointed the magical presence... but it didn't feel like Daisuke's magical presence.

' _Is it the girl?'_

Gray cursed under his breath and pressed himself flat onto the back of a crevice. Somewhere in between he had realised that he lost his shirt. It happened so many times he didn't even bother to pick it up. He prayed that no-one found his shirt.

The ice mage steadily looked over his shoulder and eased his head from out of the opening of the crevice to catch a glimpse of the person who was now about ten metres away from him. As fast as he caught a glimpse, he retracted his head back at break neck speed.

It wasn't even a girl. _It was a brown-haired boy!_

Wrong. It wasn't going to be simple. Realisation dawned upon him that something was terribly amiss.

A whirring, thunking, hissing and more whirring and hissing sounds alerted him that something was happening.

Gray tried once more and looked over his shoulder and found the boy was gone.

* * *

"Honestly Wendy, what makes you think that Daisuke would be a candidate for being a _good person_?" asked Charles.

"It's hard to explain. But I don't think Daisuke is a bad person" said Wendy.

When she first laid eyes on the snowy haired and emerald eye stranger that day, she wanted to immediately look away. She would never have admitted to Charles that she found him pleasing to look at, but she could only admit to herself that he was cute for his rounded facial features with his exotic looks and handsome for the mature undertone in his eyes. He seemed a little bit like Natsu, at the same time not at all. While Natsu was loud, brash, cantankerous and was everywhere in the room at once, Daisuke was quiet, composed and mature. His presence mostly slinking against the walls.

' _Maybe it has something to do with the quirky head tilts he does that's so similar to Natsu and Gajeel_ ' she pondered.

Daisuke hadn't done anything to threaten or harm her or her friends. In all actuality, if something were to happen to Fairy Tail, she would trust her life with him. An odd thought, but it was true.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary here…" Charles sighed.

"Look at this! This library has books on healing. There's _'Magical Medicinal Herbs', 'Warlock's Guide to Surgery', 'Rentanjutsu Healing_ '" Wendy's squealed and grabbed the first eye-catching book from off the shelf and flipped through it with excitement. Wendy dumped out all her thoughts on Daisuke and the mission, eagerly skimmed through the textbook.

"Wendy! This is not the time and place!" scolded her flying cat.

She tuned out Charles and continued to read the fascinating contents. "This is peculiar. I thought healing magic is extremely rare… but there are so many books on it…" said Wendy with awe. She could her Charles tsking behind and slapping her paw on her forehead.

Footsteps sounded somewhere to the right.

This place did not echo. The footsteps must be close by!

"Wendy!" Charles hissed. She grabbed the sky dragon slayer by the shoulders and promptly dumped her in a nearby hidden niche.

Wendy realised what was going on and pressed herself as much as possible against the side.

Footsteps were drawing ever so nearer, until Wendy could identify them to be boots. It was painstakingly slow. She and Charles held their breaths and shrunk themselves even further. The footsteps stopped just bare centimetres away from their niche. Wendy closed her eyes tightly. The change in air pressure signaled to the fact that the person with the footsteps walked right past her and was continuing across the balcony. She could smell it too. Wendy toughened herself up and opened her eyes wide and looked out to try and get a view of the either Daisuke or the girl Natsu mentioned.

' _Oh no! that's NOT Daisuke or the girl!'_

Wendy waited until the unfamiliar boy was a distance away.

"Charles, Daisuke doesn't have a guild mark for wings on his cloak at all" Wendy whispered with utter shock, staring at the winged symbol on his back.

"Then just who is _he_?" murmured her flying friend.

* * *

Natsu walked around with his arms interlocked behind his head. This was boring. Natsu Dragneel did not do espionage. He did not do observations. This wasn't his style! He felt the boredom itching in his brain. His pride as a Mage welled up inside him trying to squash his childish thoughts. This was a mission and missions were his priority. So he was going to fulfill it to the best of his abilities with the pride of a Fairy Tail mage even if the boredom killed him. Well, if Erza wanted him to play 'spy'. Then he was going to play 'spy'. He couldn't care less about The Grimoire business. Erza and the rest of the team can cover that schtick. Honestly, the history lesson sounded like high frequency static to him, but what he cared most at the moment was beating some sense into Daisuke.

He just couldn't leave the bastard alone.

Natsu sniffed the air for him. Nope, not on this level. He jumped up the stairs to the next level and ran across the bridge to the other side.

' _Whoa! Hang on a god damn minute! Who the fuck is that chick?'_

Sure enough there was an unfamiliar woman on the level just above him.

Natsu blanched. That chick sent a shiver up his spine. Her lips were set in a dead straight line and she had a sullen look in her eyes. The magic he sensed was pretty strong.

Since she wasn't Daisuke or that girl or anything…

Natsu grinned. It couldn't hurt to ask what she was doing here. Observing wasn't always the best way to attain information. Experience told him that facing one's enemies straight up was the best way to do it. He had no idea if she was an enemy or not, But he knew being in the Magic Library meant researching stuff. So how about getting some information from this skulking mage? And experience never lied.

"Hey lady!" he called out.

The said lady looked down suddenly and stared at Natsu. The fire mage suppressed his urge to wince under her cold and sullen stare. He now could get a good look at her. She was pale blonde and blue eyed. Her face was pale and sharp and had a straight nose. She also looked Fiorean that's for sure, unlike Daisuke. She had an orange-beige jacket over a hooded sweatshirt and she wore tight white pants that was riddled with straps, disappearing into her brown boots. The weirdest part were the two gigantic metal boxes hanging beside her thighs. Without a word, she pulled out a set of blades from those metal boxes.

"I wanna ask ya someth-"

She swiftly jumped from the balcony onto Natsu's level and sprinted towards him, blades held to the side, ready for decapitating.

Natsu reacted fast and dodged her blades, but they were coming fast and always aiming for his neck.

"Hold on a minute! WOAH!"

She kept coming at him with those funny swords!

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" he cried out.

Natsu hurled his flaming fists at her and she leapt back. Wire darts shot out of her metal boxes and embedded itself to the bottom of the upper bridge. She swung gracefully in tandem with the side of the tower in a wide arc, building the momentum to aim for Natsu's back.

Natsu was eagerly tracking her trajectory. The bitch could do aero-dynamic stuff. That was pretty neat for circus acrobats, but was nothing against a dragon slayer.

"Where's Daisuke!" Natsu yelled without thinking. He leapt out of the way and spat out a tornado of flames, only for the blonde girl to retract her metal grappling darts and shoot in another direction, narrowly escaping the blazing inferno.

' _What the hell!?_ ' He ogled at the various mid air flips she could do.

"Hey wait up!" he called after her. He was monetarily distracted by trying to regain his balance and was too late when he felt her knee imbedded into the back of his head.

He saw stars.

Shaking the black spots from his eyes, he grabbed her by the belt and tossed her into the balcony below. She landed with a loud crash. She was fast, but not as fast as he. When the dust cleared away, she was standing again at the ready. Natsu jumped down to meet her in a head on collision to be greeted by a fist in the face. Blow after blow struck him. This girl was well learned in combat skills and each strike was well aimed, designing to debilitate him as much as possible. But Natsu wasn't just any mage, his tolerance and resistance to physical blows was dragon level.

The blonde girl narrowed her delicate brows in confusion as to why he wasn't physically incapacitated yet.

"Hitsugaya warned us against your people coming here" she finally spoke.

"Heh, you're sided with him after all" Natsu wiped the blood from his mouth.

She remained silent and only observed him under a cold stare.

"Let me get one thing straight. Where is he?"

The blonde girl's expression didn't change. "Miles away" she said.

Natsu smirked. "Like playing hard to get aye? I can work with that"

Natsu pumped up his fist with magic, preparing for a nice battle.

The blonde girl took out another set of blades from her metal box.

* * *

Erza parried strike after strike from the black haired girl she was battling against. She was quick and her ability to use her grappling darts for aero-dynamic manoeuvres were no less than one hundred percent graceful and effective.

"Requip! Empress Armour!" Erza's Heaven's Wheel's armour disappeared and was replaced with her Empress Armour.

"We are not at liberty to answer any of your questions" answered the black haired girl.

Erza gritted her teeth. So they were allied with Daisuke after all. Who knew how many others had his back. She had to find a way to get those metal boxes away from her. That way she would have no means to be out-manoeuvred. The way she saw it that was her only advantage.

"The Grimoire is very powerful magic. A lot of mages would kill for it. For the safety of the world and its people, it should remain out of reach of anyone's hand!" Erza tried to reason with her.

"That is not up to you to decide" said the black haired girl. She sprinted forward and slashed diagonally at Erza in quick succession. Erza side stepped with ease, left and right. She jumped backwards and parried again and again. The black haired girl's red scarfe whipped soundlessly every time she found anchor on the wall and swung in huge arcs around Erza. Erza braced herself and re-quiped her weapon to a broadsword tight in her grip.

' _This is it!'_

She watched as the black haired girl swung in from the underside of the bridge directly at her. She tightened her hold and held it to the side, reading for a rising cut.

 _CRASH!_

Erza gasped and lost her footing. She dropped to one knee and stabbed her broad sword into the ground, saving her knee caps from shattering. The whole tower shook, knocking books off the shelves, disappearing to the bottom. She looked up to see the black haired girl pelted into the side of the tower from the large after shock of whatever shook the tower.

A stream of ice cascaded down the side. It must be Gray! It looked like he was engaged in a fight too. Something long and gangly caught her eye in the blue ice. The body of a boy dressed so similarly to the girl she was duelling with was stuck in into it. Gray must have been merciless too. She had yet to hear or see Natsu flaming about. It was hard to tell due to the sheer size of the tower and the many bridges criss-crossing over each other obscuring her view. What about Wendy and Charles?

Natsu, Wendy and Charles could hold their own. She needed to concentrate on her own battle. Erza stood up and brushed away her scarlet red hair from her eyes and wiped away the droplet of blood form her lip. The black haired girl had come-to, but she was not at all looking at Erza. Her eyes widened more than Erza thought she was capable of, terror filled them. The boy stuck in Gray's ice attack had an iron grip on her attention.

"Eren!" she screamed.

* * *

Wendy, Charles and the boy they were stalking felt the enormous shaking of the tower and the commotion going on in the lower floors.

The tower shook all around Wendy. She quickly plucked Charles from the air and clutched her to her chest, before a book landed on her head. She did her best to dodge the falling books from above her niche, careful not to also lose sight of the boy. She made up her mind. No-one else knew they were coming here. The Magical Library was basically deserted. This boy _must_ be an associated of Daisuke. There couldn't be a shadow of a doubt.

"Annie!" The boy yelled from the bridge.

Wendy sprang out in hopes of stopping him from joining the fights below, but was unsuccessful when he was already jumping off the balcony to the lower bridges. She did the only thing she could think of.

"SKY DRAGON'S ROAR!"

"WAAAHH!"

The boy was blown off his trajectory and crashed into the side of the tower, books tumbling everywhere.

"I-I'm so sorry!" yelled Wendy.

"You don't apologise to enemies Wendy!" scolded Charles.

Wendy ignored her and jumped down onto the balcony the boy was on. She braced herself and took a stance against him. He pushed the books off of him and grimaced at all the dust flying around his face. He shakily got up and faced Wendy.

"Who are you?! Did you do that!" he yelled at her.

"Y-yes" she squeaked.

He looked at her up and down and sighed.

"No offense, but there's no way I'm going to fight a little girl" he said.

"What?!" Wendy gasped in shock. She always had this problem! People underestimating her. "I don't care what you think. I will stop you from finding The Grimoire no matter what"

" _He_ did warn us you were coming" he said.

"Yes. And I'm Wendy Marvel the Sky dragon slayer."

"If introductions are in order, then I'm Connie Springer." He said.

"Prepare yourself Connie Springer, I will not lose against you" Wendy's expression turned serious. This was her chance to discover how much she had grown as a dragon slayer.

"You too Wendy" he said. Something shot out of the metal boxes beside his thighs and with a whir he was air-bound.

" _Fast wind that run the heaven… VERNIER!"_ Wendy's whole body tingled, feeling the surge of adrenaline pumped by her magic. She dodged Connie Springer, his movements now sluggish in her eyes. She could feel the air move around her faster as her speed dramatically increased, including his gasps of surprise when his blades missed her completely.

" _Power of the stout arms that tears heaven… ARMS!"_ She closed her hands into fists and released a wave of her magic to coat her arms.

"Wendy! Don't drain yourself!" Yelled Charles from above.

Wendy wasn't a fighter. She never wanted to be. She had a strict no-violence policy, because who needed spilt blood and broken bones when an enemy can be subdued through words. Her empathy and compassion was her greatest weapon and her guild helped her nurture it to become her pride as a mage.

This boy had to be only a few years older than she was.

Connie Springer tightened his fingers over his blades and charged at her. Wendy ducked and parried each blow, magically manipulating the air pressure around her arms like a shield to repel his blades. She could feel Vernier already slipping away and she didn't have enough time to cast another. Connie Springer gained speed as she slowed down, often switching blades between his hands to try and strike her at different ankles.

Wendy felt her shoulders tug and gasped when Charles jerked her into the air from the back of her long-sleeved top.

"We need to find a way to separate him from those metal boxes, to stop him from being airborne" said Charles.

"Right!" Wendy concentrated on dodging Connie Springer and scanning for a perfect opportunity to get rid of those metal boxes that allowed him to fly through the air.

Connie Springer was once again airbourne, making wide arcs, keeping Wendy's attention on his direction.

' _There!'_

"SKY DRAGON'S CRUSHING FANG!"

As soon as she saw Connie Springer throw a side-glance towards one of his comrades down below, she took advantage of the blind spot in his attention and swiped at his left metal box with her magic.

"Uwah!" He swung in an erratic arc, losing control of his balance and hitting against the bookcases. His metal box laid crushed to the side.

Wendy didn't want to fight.

' _There are other ways of winning'_

"We don't have to do this! I just want to ask you some questions" she called out hovering just a few metres away from him, hoping that she didn't sound pitiful.

He smirked at her. He hung from the bookcase with only one grappling dart anchored into the wall above and his feet firmly planted on the ledge of the bookcase to keep him from slipping.

"Well, well. I didn't peg you for a dragon slayer at all. But, still. There's nothing a little jailbait like you could do to stop us in anything, anyway" he jabbed his finger at her.

"Wendy, he's trying to get under your skin. Don't listen to him" Charles said loudly so both can hear.

"I know" Mocking and jeering was a regular occurrence for someone like her back in the day. But thanks to her wonderful friends and guild, her nerves were _steel_. "If that's how you want it to be, then I have no choice. _"Physical ability, ris—Ehh?! Urrggh!"_

"WENDY!" Screamed Charles.

"Hurts doesn't it, Jailbait. See those patches on your wrists? Specially designed by our Magic Wares Specialist. It drains magical energy, preventing you from casting any spells" Connie Springer said with unmasked confidence.

Wendy's head was spinning as she felt Charles gently depositing her onto the bridge to rest. Her vision was rapidly focusing in and out and she could feel her magic reserves being sucked out of her wrists. She could hear the echoes of Connie's footsteps as he leapt onto the bridge and stride towards her.

"H-how did… y-you?"

"Sleight of hand" he said.

' _When he was switching blades between his hands…'_ Wendy finally connected the dots.

"Best part is, it works better on supportive magic users. They're the weakest"

Wendy could barely keep her eyes open. Her body convulsed at the unnatural pull of magic from her body and her strength sapping away.

"I've got my orders" he said.

It was as the last thing she heard before a quick sharp pain to the back of her neck sent her into the darkness.

* * *

It had been quite some time since Connie yelled out her name. Just after she saw Eren getting throttled along the wall by what appeared to be an ice mage. It looked like Connie was getting his arse handed to him too before he finally overcame that little girl. About time too.

She sensed raging heat coming from behind and sommersaulted out of the way just in time to dodge. This guy was unpredictable and unpredictable guys were a nuisance. She had to watch her step the whole way. Her 3D manoeuvre gear laid crushed and burnt somewhere at the bottom of the tower. There went her second greatest asset.

She blocked the fire mage's punches. Luckily her uniform provided some form of magic resistance and wasn't scathed too much from his fire. Annie decided that this was the time to end things quick in case it got out of hand too much. His hand to hand combat skills were mediocre at best, and it looked like he preferred fighting at a medium range.

The salmon haired mage huffed and puffed as he was beginning to exhaust his magic. Annie dived in and punched him in the gut once more and brought her elbow down between his shoulders. She felt the breath escape his body in a ragged, blood-filled gasp.

Suddenly her leg jerked out from under her and landed painfully on her behind. He grabbed her by the shoulder and tossed her into the wall. This guy had this much physical strength left in him? Annie too felt her breath leave her.

"Ready to talk yet?" his voice was low and threatening.

She scoffed at him.

"If you want answers, go talk to our captain. Like I give a shit about what Hitsugaya needs to do anyway"

"Oh yeah, and where do I find him?"

"Over your grave"

She lunged at him and both tumbled off the balcony. She felt his heat searing her skin but gritted her teeth and bared with it.

 _Whizshhhh!_

She whipped her head up at the distant sounds of whizzing wires passing over her head. Bodies were flying through the air and she felt a tiny bit of relief because the long-awaited back up had arrived. She took her chance and relinquished herself from the Fairy Tail mage and tried to twist in mid-air, reaching her hand out-

She grasped onto another's hand and looked up realising that Jean had caught her mid-air.

"Annie, are you ok?" Said Jean.

"Fine. Corporal Levi and Commander Erwin has arrived I see"

* * *

Erza and Gray now had the brown haired boy and the black haired girl with the red scarf pinned. It was obvious to see who had the upper hand.

"Eren, can you move?" she tried to break the ice from his leg.

"It's no use. My ice is stronger than ordinary ice" said Gray.

"It's alright Mikasa" the boy named Eren said confidently. He had one hand free and poised it in front of his mouth, about to bite into the skin of his hand to Erza's confusion.

"No Eren, you can't use it here" said the girl named Mikasa earnestly. Erza raised her eyebrows at that comment.

Erza drew her sword out, directly at Eren's nose. "You'll be leaving with us" she said.

"On the contrary, you'll be too dead to be taking anyone anywhere" a deadpanned voice caught her ears and she turned around face to face with a ghastly looking man.

His eyes were hollow. Dead beyond comparison. The seriousness rolled off of him and Erza felt the killing intent press against her. His black hair was severely cropped at ear level and was wearing a pristine white cravat. Other than that, his uniform was exactly the same as the other two. He also had a blade digging into a gap between parts of Erza's armour. She didn't even notice him coming at all.

' _Shit! The barrier!'_ '

"If you're thinking about your crappy excuse of a lacryma crystal alert system, they have been disabled" he said.

"Levi- _heichou-"_

"Shut it, Ackerman" he swiftly cut in, his eyes not leaving Erza's.

Erza scowled.

"You guy's just keep on coming don't you. First Daisuke and now the flying-circus. Why are you guys after The Grimoire?" said Gray.

It was useless, Erza knew extracting answers from these people were like pulling hen's teeth.

"Nothing you need to be concerned with, you Exhibitionist" said the short man named Levi and he gave a revolting look at Gray's lack of clothing.

"What?! You want a beating too?" Gray fisted one hand onto his other open palm.

He was met with a swift kick to the face before he could even blink.

"GRAY!" screamed Erza.

"Don't make me laugh, Fairy cunts. You are nothing but an enema for my horse" Levi leveled his blade at Erza's nose once again.

' _How dare he!'_ thought Erza.

"Ackerman, haul Jaeger's arse out of here, pronto"

"Yes, sir" she said with a forced composed look, as if trying really hard to ignore his crass language. The grave looking man pulled something from his inside jacket pocket and threw it at the girl with red scarf. She looked at it curiously and her eyes widened in realisation. She turned back around and slammed it into Gray's ice. _It was a magic dissolvent for domestic use._ Erza recognised it from the shops, but she didn't think it had any practical use in the battle field. Gray's ice started to dissolve around the Eren-boy and soon he was free. It was probably a modified piece of magical home-ware.

A series of whizzing darts came through the entrance and many more uniformed people were flying through the air towards the upper levels. Gray finally shook his head, losing the dazed look form his eyes and watched along with Erza the oncoming insurgence.

Their team was in trouble now.

A tall blonde man approached them. He had a sturdy chiselled face and his hair was parted neatly on the side.

"Corporal Levi. Change of plans. We are not killing these Fairy Tail mages." he said.

"What does the bastard want now, Commander Erwin?" said Levi.

"Be careful to whom you're talking about. I'm sure our Patriarch won't be too amused if he heard that" the man named Erwin chuckled.

The man named Levi grunted.

"A new transmission came in. It seems he wants to meet these Fairy Tail mages" he smiled warmly at Gray and Erza.

Levi sighed.

"This whole thing was a set-up as soon as he left our guild" said Erza, referring to Daisuke. It was more of an admission than anything else. "Why stop us now, and not as soon as we got in?"

"Know your enemies, know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles" he said, whilst slipping on a pair of brown leather gloves. He hadn't looked her in the eyes once. "By the way. You won't be needing these anymore."

The tall blonde man nodded to his lackeys and they dumped a sack at Erza's feet.

The Security Lacrymas. Crushed to pieces.

Moments later, Natsu came crashing to the floor and young boy with a shaved head held an unconscious Wendy and Charles over his shoulder as he landed with another girl by his side.

"Wendy! Natsu!" gasped Erza.

Natsu was tightly wrapped in wires, thrashing about like an animal. Erza scowled. They must be magically enforced wires, binding his arms, legs, body, wrists and ankles. Erza looked around, they were completely surrounded by mages in identical clothing. Short beige jackets with the insignia of wings, tight white pants lined with straps and large metal boxes for mechanical flying and anchoring and housing for their blades. They were _soldiers_.

Levi stared at Erza with unmasked condescension.

"It looks like you people are getting your wish. Your answers lie with _him_. You're coming back to Vana'diel with us"

* * *

 **One big fat cameo right there :P I just couldn't resist. Welp, it sounds like Fairy Tail gets a chance to cross int the East. What kinds of culture shock would they encounter? Most importantly, who is this mysterious _Patriarch_ Daisuke and Riza keeps talking about? Sounds like Natsu's got another person occupying his mind. I hope he doesn't strain himself with too much thinking haha!**

 **I hope you all like this story so far. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think and I will see you in 7 days time!**

 **Signing off**

 **-TripWire-dono**


	6. Bridging the Gap

**Hey there! Posting the chapter a few hours late because I just woke from my nap. Got a bit carried away lol.**

 **Anyway I've just concluded my hospital placement and to be honest I didn't do very well and I'm not sure what's going to happen to me :( In other news my sister's got her first boyfriend! She had always been so picky and rejected them left, right centre. That's a good thing because she's looking for 'the one' and we think she's finally found him. He's a little similar to my own boyfriend lol. My boyfriend is from Norway, her boyfriend is half Finnish and both of them are into cars and live close by to each other :O.**

 **I'll be returning to _A Touch of Saffron_ very shortly. I've got some paper work to finalise for my placement first :)**

 **Okay, enough about me, on with the chapter!**

* * *

 _Chapter 6 -Bridging the Gap  
_

"Let me out of here! I'll break your necks! I'll BBQ you all! Urgghhhh…." Natsu hollered and rolled around from inside the magically sealed wagon, still bound by wires. The momentary burst of agitation quelled into a lull as he wrestled with the churning in his gut. The wagon did its thing and rolled along, much to Natsu's despair.

"You had your chance Natsu-san. It was either act civil and travel side by side with my family or end up in the wagon, which seems to be detrimental to your health" Said Erwin.

Erza sighed from atop her horse. Agreeing to gamble their lives to travel with these _soldiers_ back to Vana'diel was a very big call. But was a better way of finding out why Daisuke was after The Grimoire. It also confirmed one of their theories, his whole 'family' was involved. This gamble was pretty much an ultimatum. Erwin said to either come back with them, or they will be annihilated right then and there. They were sorely out-numbered and Erza could actually believe they would murder them in a heartbeat. She had to trust her gut this time around. They would make the long trek back with the 'family' to the unknown wilderness of the East.

"Erza, it's ok" said Gray, on the horse next to her. "You weren't the only one to make this decision".

"Gurgggghhhh…" murmured Natsu.

Erza felt a piercing stare in their direction. She turned around to see the boy named Eren quickly averting his eyes to the tree tops. He probably intended to transmit his dislike into the back of Gray's head. He was a scrawny looking kid who didn't look like he had any makings of a soldier. She soon learnt the names of Mikasa, the girl she fought against and Annie, who fought Natsu. Then there was the incorrigible man named Levi. He was some piece of work. Erza held back her judgement more than Gray. He looked like he wanted to plant his fist in the face in return for the man who decked him in the face.

"So this family of yours…" Wendy sat on the horse right behind the girl she came to know as Sascha. "Is it like a guild?"

A girl named Sascha swallowed her mouthful of bread which she had been snacking on "Umm, I guess so. Feels more like a really big extended family. You must be hungry, want some?" she offered another piece of bread from inside her jacket and gave it to Wendy over her shoulder.

"Ah! T-thankyou" she blushed, accepting the bread. Charles tsked at her.

"We have many factions in our 'guild' who we designate as a 'family'" said Erwin. "Each of the family have certain skill sets that we offer to our Patriarch. We are soldiers and this is our family,"

"Right, so this 'Patriarch' is basically your guild master?" asked Gray.

"Well if you want to make a Western comparison using Western standards, then yes. He is the Guild master" confirmed Erwin.

Erza pulled the corners of her lips and huffed. Erwin didn't need to be a dick about it.

"Somebody shut him up or he'll be eating my boot" said Levi behind her, referring to Natsu.

"I'll try my best…" Wendy hopped off of Sascha's horse, and scampered to Natsu's wagon. She activated her Troia spell. It did little to help, but at least Natsu was reduced to a quiet moaning.

Erza observed the Levi-Erwin pair. They were courteous enough to offer a comfortable travel with them back to their homeland where their 'guild' was based. If Erza and her team resisted otherwise, they would be forced to submit and be dragged along with their wrists and ankle bound behind the wagons like common criminals. She would not doubt that was what the man called Levi had on his mind.

"Erwin. This quest of yours-"

"It's best not to speak of it right now, Erza-san. You will hear what you need to know from our Patriarch,"

His eyes didn't even meet Erza's. She knew that he was in charge of this company they were traveling with, it was easy to tell from the way the soldiers saluted him. An unorthodox one she had to admit. A salute that was across the chest. He carried an air of command and tactical intelligence that could rival any guild master. His brows were set and his head was held high. His shoulders were broad and his thigh muscles looked thick and strong. Battle experience was evident in the man. Now that she thought about it, most of these people looked like they had a lot of battle experience. Not so much as the battle with raw strength and brute force she gathered, more like… tactical and strategic warfare.

' _What's the big deal? Unless he is worried about…'_

Oh.

Erza turned around to meet the abrupt stare of Mikasa. Her scarf was wrapped around her neck loosely, barely covering her lips. Upon closer inspection, she was actually really pretty. Erza turned away before the moment could get awkward.

' _Know your enemy's huh? As they say, keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer'_

"Whhermm Jaissseee…" gurgled Natsu.

"Your friend has been asking that a lot. What is his connection to him?" asked the girl named Annie.

"Natsu is a dragon slayer and so is Daisuke. It's only natural Natsu wants to butt horns with him. So to speak" answered Gray.

Levi exchanged looks with Erwin.

"Are there other dragon slayers in your guild?" asked Levi.

"Umm… I am a d-dragon slayer…" piped up Wendy.

Levi looked at her up and down, his stare remained blank "You have got to be shitting me"

"We've got an iron dragon slayer and a lightening dragon slayer back at our guild as well. What's it to you?" Gray cut in before Levi could dissolve Wendy with his hollow eyes.

"We have two other dragon slayers back at Vana'diel too" murmured Mikasa from beside Erza.

"Oh? What magic do they use?" asked Erza.

"Lightening and Illusions. Daisuke uses ice" said Mikasa. This time she kept her eyes focused to the front.

"Another lightning one? Does that mean he is a first generation dragon slayer?" Erza asked with mild interest.

"What do you mean by first generation?" asked Erwin. He finally turned around and looked at Erza. Erza had been a bit miffed that he never visually acknowledged her, but now she wished he kept his eyes forward.

"Like, first generation slayers are taught directly from their dragon. Second generation slayers have dragon lacryma inserted into them to give them dragon slayer powers" said Erza.

"What? That's impossible. Lacryma crystals can't simply do that. They are not strong enough to carry such immense magic" said the blonde boy she came to know as Armin from behind her and Gray.

Her eyebrows shot up and she noticed the company was nodding their heads in unison. They really had no idea? They probably didn't know half of the magical items widely available all across Fiore. West and East had many things and knowledge that they have yet to share with each other. There should be plenty of things each culture would find trivial, at the same time hold great interest for the other, now that she thought about it too.

"Well, actually it can. We have dragon lacryma crystals but they are very rare and expensive to purchase. They can only be prescribed to you under strict medical advice and that's not all. You need to have approval from the Magic Council to use it"

"So… this lightning dragon slayer of yours. He was severely ill?"

"Yes. When he was a little boy he had always been sickly and our guild master managed to acquire a dragon lacryma and placed in him. He healed and fought off his sickness. So now he has dragon slayer abilities as well"

"How sick was he?" said Levi, barely showing any interest.

"Very. It was an illness that could be fatal to children" Erza simply said.

The red-headed knight wasn't liking the atmosphere that settled on the company. She could only hear the horses' whinnies and hoofs clopping on the dirt road. Everything else was silent. It was eerie and made the hair on the back of her arms and neck stand on end.

' _These people…'_

A minute long silence passed, but it was a pretty long minute.

"That's very interesting. Tell me Erza-san, does your kingdom know other ways of regenerating ones body using magic?" asked Erwin who continued to observe her.

Erza was thinking about how to answer until the annoyed voice of one of the soldiers at the back called out.

"Hey, I think this guy is going to hurl for real this time!" called out Jean.

The sounds of Natsu's gurgling rang out. Troia must have stopped working. Erza switched her thoughts to Natsu and realised they must have been travelling for more than half a day at least, which was beyond Natsu's tolerance for motion sickness. Maybe it was time to get him out and start walking. The longer he stayed cooped up the worse his condition was going to get and Erza didn't feel generous enough to baby sit him along the trek.

She tugged the reins of her horse and turned around to meet Natsu's wagon.

"Ok Natsu, lets get you back on your feet so your motion sickness will go away. Are you going to be well behaved this time?" she said.

"Yessshhh… I berrghh juu. Meeeek it s-s-schtop schpiiining…"

Jean sighed and stopped the carriage. He unsealed the wagon door and Natsu rolled out onto the dirt. Erza promptly cut away the wires. They were pretty tough, to her dismay. Once Natsu was released from his binding, he flopped onto his back and inhaled and exhaled like Droy who had just ran a marathon against Jet.

Erza looked up to the front and saw the company was still moving on ahead.

"Hey buddy? You good to go?" Jean jabbed the tip of his boot against Natsu's arm.

"Don't touch me. But yeah I'm alright now" Natsu pulled himself up, still cranky, and stretched the kinks in his joints. He looked a lot better, free from the wagon.

"Hey man, you chose the hard way." Growled Jean. He closed the wagon door and continued forward.

"Come one lets keep going. Hop on" Erza stretched out her hand to Natsu.

He just looked at her hand and shook his head. He began walking on is own following the soldiers. Erza sighed. Men. She and Jean caught up with the group and just trotted silently behind them.

She could make out the bantering between Gray and the Eren boy. She could also see Mikasa hovering dangerously beside Eren like a guard dog, but Gray didn't seem to care either way. It was approaching late afternoon now.

"We will reach the boarder between Fiore and Bosco by night fall! Let's make camp there. Keep at it everyone!" Erwin commanded from the front.

"Yes sir!"

This was going to be a long journey.

* * *

That was probably one of the most successful mission she's ever had in her life!

Made a good impression with her employer? Check!

Developed a successful plan of action for the mission? Check!

Successful execution of said plan? Check!

Kicked ass like a total boss? Half check, but rounded it up to _check!_

No collateral damage? Double check!

Received many thanks from the Head Curator and enormous pay? The Supreme Overlord Check of the Kingdom of all Checks!

Lucy hummed merrily, enjoying the feel of the extra weight the jewels brought to her travel bag. Yes! Her rent is covered for nine months! She eagerly browsed the stores with a jaunty gait, her chocolate brown eyes twinkling at all the wares on sale.

A silver key caught her eye. It was another Canis Minor key. The price was an obvious rip off and she already had her beloved Plue. But she could totally afford another one. _Because it was payday._ Lucy chuckled. The days of feeling broke all the time, budgeting forever and scrambling for missions that were overflowing with cash felt like a distant memory.

She had learnt so many things on this mission and she would remember it always. It would have been really nice if Natsu, Happy and maybe Gray, Erza and Wendy had joined her. But if she were to be an awesome, capable, independent mage, then she had to go solo every now and again. She had to prove that she could fend for and take care of herself on missions. So _nah_. Well mission accomplished, another tick off monthly to-do list. Speaking of ticking things off. She also ticked off an item off her bucket list.

' _That was such a great trip to Caelum Island!'_

Lucy had worked out between the reward money, her savings plus a holiday resort discount gift-voucher for 'Two' fun-packed days at Caelum Island, she was able to grab a mini-vacation just for herself. There was no way she was sharing that with those nut-jobs.

Caleum Island was exactly what anyone would expect. A huge tropical island. Its size back in the ancient days was nothing compared to what it was now. It actually used to be a sand bank, which surprised her. It started as a pirates treasure hiding place where they buried their smuggled goods. It quickly became bigger over centuries from continuous dumping of sand brought in by the tremendous Southern Currents. People started to live on it and the massive sand bank became a tiny island that was finally noticed on the maps.

It became known as Caelum Island, named after the local's revered deity. Lucy thought the most interesting part was that the locals turned it into tourist area after _a few decades ago_ , and the island grew bigger and more touristy with the aid of lots of magic, man-made know-how and MONEY. LOTS OF MONEY.

Fancy that! A little sand bank transformed into a big man-made tropical island.

She was amazed at how fast the island advanced in that short amount of time. They must have been inspired by something to develop such a terrific island resort. That definitely didn't come easy. It would have been great if it remained just as a small tropical island too, she could imagine it being just as lovely.

Lucy booked a room in Crocus once more, using the same hotel she was staying at for her mission. Room service was awesome! She paid a bellboy to carry her luggage upstairs and did a little dance in the small living area. The room was cute, it had a nice beige coloured feature wall while the rest was a muted pink. The bed lay in a corner, the wardrobe on the other side and the study desk was rested right under a window, where it got the most sunshine. Perfect.

After finishing her mission, she headed straight to Caelum Island, taking the train to the edge of Fiore and then the ferry. The sun was gorgeous, the timing was right. It was too wonderful an opportunity to miss.

Now that she was back in Crocus, she planned to have some extra time to continue the novel that she started while relaxing in the lovely resort.

She interacted with the locals at Caelum Island and it was a fantastic experience. They had really good stories about the island and the one that captured her attention the most was the story of Hans Christian Anderson, the famous warlock who explored the island centuries ago when it was still tiny.

Lucy kicked off her boots and bounced on the bed a bit. She was tuckered out from her mission and holiday. She continued humming and her eyes shone with unconcealed excitement as more and more ideas popped into her head. The story she was developing in her head would definitely be inspired by the amazing humanitarian work of the famous warlock Hans Christian Anderson.

She stared at the pink ceiling.

' _Hmm, I wonder what's the team is up to right now? I hope they didn't get themselves into too much trouble while I was gone'_.

The blonde celestial mage rifled through her travel bag and pulled out her blank manuscript and her notebook. Most of her notes were jotted down in her notebook. An author's got to do some planning and research before they started a story after all.

She also pulled out a set of souvenirs for her team. Some special dried fish for Happy, few bottles of special 10/10 Inferno Caelum Island hot sauce for Natsu, board shorts for Gray, _History of Caelum Island XX32 – X532_ for Levy and an ornamental spear for Erza.

Everyone better be damn happy and grateful for what she was lugging home for them.

Lucy smiled and brought out her own souvenir. She was feeling giddy inside. It was a replica of the famous Danes Compass. It was said it was created from his magic. It was bigger than a regular compass and chunkier. The smooth gold plated surface of the lid was cool to the touch and the wrought aluminium rim was intricately woven to a vine-like pattern, giving it a tinge of elegance. She wondered if it was an _exact_ replica. The compass she had in her hand was far too ornate to be made on the cuff of the premordial age of magic. Engravings of an ancient language spiralled around the compass, trailing over the front and back like a snake made from words. She flipped open the lid and inside was a beautiful metal face of the compass. N, S, E and W were inlaid with silver and the needle looked like any old compass needle.

There was an engraving of a sparrow on the inside lid of the compass too.

She would love this replica compass to have the long lost magic of pointing to what her heart longed desired, but it was too complex and intimate a magic for anyone to use. As far she she knew, only Hans Christian Anderson was capable of that.

Lucy took out the little brochure from one of the museum's she visited. The theory behind why the compass was created was long debated and twisted through history. Some said it was a gift he crafted for his wife, some said he was forced to create it to use in The Great Magic War, some said it was used to search for the 'source' of magic. The magic compass was hidden away, sealed by Hans Christian Anderson's trusted friend to make sure none would ever attain the powerful compass.

The warlock who hid it was Charles Perault.

' _Well, I'm going to make my own theory and use it in my novel. I think I'm going to keep the Danes Compass as true as possible and just wrap my story around it'_

Awesome! She had a basic layout of her story.

Lucy continued to stare at the ceiling deep in thought. She couldn't imagine anything else she wanted. She had great friends, a cool job, roof over her head and was part of the best guild there was. A day didn't go by when she thought she wasn't blessed with everything she gain. If she had the Danes Compass in her hand, this very second, what would she look for?

* * *

"It doesn't make any sense at all" Daisuke growled at Riza.

They stood atop a hill over looking a wide expanse of untouched vegetation, just at the end of the slope. It stretch as far as the eye could see. As expected, there was no mountain in sight, leaving a vast flat green land sitting on an ancient sand bar. The sun beated down on their backs and the salty breeze brought a refreshing coolness to negate the summer heat. It was probably _always_ summer here. Behind them was the holiday resort and tourist city area. The only one that Riza and Daisuke could locate. The metropolitan noise was nothing but a distant hum, now that the two were at a considerable distance away.

"Do not look at me. You are the only one here who knows how to read Sindarin" she growled back.

"No, no. This place is right, the coordinates led us to an island known to be designed by magic. The perfect criteria for a hiding place for the Danes Compass"

"Yes. I know, but what are you talking about?"

"I didn't count on it to be further re-designed as Caelum Island Tropical Resort Destination. It should've been protected. Untouched."

He flopped the tourist map he helped himself to from a street vendor in front of Riza's face.

"I do not understand… Why are you worried about something that is so insignificant? You said the sandbar should be in the centre of the resort island. So let us go there already!"

"You don't get it…"

"What is there to get?"

"All this" Daisuke gestured out to the tourist areas behind them. "Within only a couple of decades?"

"Like I said, nothing to do with us…" Riza pulled up her mask, covering her mouth and nose.

The duo headed out into the tropical forest trekking further away from the exotic metropolitan. Both could hear the distant tweeting and calling of multiple birds, signalling that they were far enough away from the populated areas. It must have been over three hours that they've been pushing through the forest. Daisuke used is sword to hack away at the tremendous growth of lush green foliage whilst Riza swept through the tree tops with practiced leaps from branch to vine to branch again. Daisuke was thankful this wasn't a jungle. He would have collapsed from the humidity. Not that the forest wasn't humid too. He contemplated using his magic to freeze the next kilometre and a half or so and shatter everything to make a dead easy path. The stinking heat trapped by the forest was messing with Daisuke's senses and if he wasn't out of here soon enough, his brain was heading for an aneurysm.

"Clearing up ahead!" he heard Riza call out from twelve metres ahead.

It couldn't hurt to make the last few metres a breeze.

" _Souten ni Zase:_ Crystal Breath!"

Daisuke slashed the air and effectively froze everything in his path in glistening ice. Riza jumped out of the way just in time to avoid getting frozen along the way and scowled at him, choosing not to say a word. He pushed himself with his left leg and slid with ease across his ice and hopped onto the wild green grass at the end of the forest boundary.

"Ok, so this should be it. Random patch of grass in the middle of a tropical forest" he murmured. Daisuke reached into one of the pockets on his knap sack and pulled out the scroll. He flipped it open with the snap of his wrist and delved back into it.

"60 degrees _: Borgil, Luinil, Néner, Eärendil"_ he read.

When he first read the script, he immediately zoned in on those names, the names of sacred celestial bodies from the Sindarin tongue. Honing his skills in Sindarin literature made him sensitive to unusual star names so they did not escape his notice.

"We are now under the star of _Eärendil. Ja_ _?_ _"_ Riza commented.

The natives who wrote in Sindarin often used the stars path for navigation. One must have a star as a reference point and follow the path of another to get to find their way across the world. It was a skill passed down through story and was heavily ingrained in the once nomadic people of the Sindarin language. It took Daisuke many years to understand and predict how the heaven's rolled in a phenomenon known as ' _parallax'_ because that totally messed up his inner compass. So borrowing his Patriarch's second in charge's constellation chart was mighty helpful. The daytime was the worst time to locate stars for obvious reasons, but it was still possible. They just needed magic filters over their eyes. A simple but ancient spell he was taught. He and Riza had tracked the line of stars as dictated in the scroll, past _Borgil_ ' _s_ all the way to Caelum Island under the gaze of _Eärendil_ , the last star to track.

Honestly, he was disappointed the final destination had too many fucking people living on it.

"Search the clearing" Daisuke commanded. Riza leapt up into the trees which he guessed she wanted an aerial view. He spotted some boulders on the other edge of the clearing and went to check them out. It was possible that they were markers for something. Any clue was as good as gold right now. He pressed his ears against one of them and closed his eyes.

 _Listen..._

"Edelweiss! _"_ Riza pointed out. She spotted a small cluster of snow-white blossoms half a farmer's field away.

"It's not a tropical flower…" Daisuke murmured to himself. Riza seemed to be super observant today. He got up and craned his neck around and spotted the tiny flowers. He went over to the cluster and inhaled the scent.

' _Now if only I can get her to admit that she finds her father's training for espionage useful'_ he mentally smirked.

He plucked a flower and placed it in his mouth than spat it out.

"It's sustained by magic" he rubbed his tongue against the roof of his mouth and around his teeth. "Ancient magic, that is"

"Stand back" said Riza.

Daisuke stared with curiosity, wondering what Riza was going to do. That unpredictable girl.

Riza clapped her hands together hard and slapped them onto the grass. The tattoo on the back of her hands glowed bright red. Daisuke watched the magic draining from the air and into the ground. He almost lost his footing and stumbled backwards. The earth rumbled like lightning as the dirt churned in on itself and the grass above it. He watched the soil swallow up the edelweiss with no mercy. Before he knew it, he spotted the tops of a black slab rising from the ground like bleached coral rising from low tide.

' _It's a sarcophagus'_ He smirked _'Wonderful'_.

Riza seemed to sense his amusement.

"What is it?"

His smirk broadened "Does your dad know you've forsaken his family magic for your mum's?"

"I have not-!...Stop being an _arschloch_ , Hitsugaya. So do not tell my father… I am not looking forward to a lecture from him and my uncle."

' _Damn, so close'_

"Yeah, yeah I hear you. I wouldn't want to cross their paths unless ordered by the Patriarch if I could avoid it"

"Tell me about it..."

Finally the whole stone sarcophagus revealed itself, dirt still clinging to the side. It was made of pristine black marble. Riza stared in awe at the grand and opulent design of the sarcophagus. Daisuke was pretty sure her mouth was agape if not for her black mask obscuring half her face from view. It was trimmed with bronze and gold, the marble expertly carved to create ripples spilling over the edge. Gold never rusted. Precious gemstones embedded all along the side, notably lapis lazuli, a rare one above all else. Historical events were also craved into the end of the sarcophagus. Daisuke bent down to inspect further and from what he could tell, it was whoever-in-the-grave's most significant contribution to the magic world.

The intricate circle carved in the pictorial gleamed enticingly, leafed in flaking gold.

 _Hans Christian Anderson's Compass_

Daisuke looked over the sarcophagus lid. There was no name anywhere. Who's tomb was this? The smoothness beckoned to be caressed. He reached out and barely touched the surface when a magic circle sprang forth. He retracted his hand with lightning speed and Riza jerked her palms closer to together, ready to sink the sarcophagus back into its grave should anything go wrong.

Bright, white, glowing writing etched itself into the surface of the lid stroke by stroke.

' _An epitaph'_ thought Daisuke.

He watched mesmerised as the writing ended. The magic circle dissolved as well. It was written in a dead language. Of course it had to. Daisuke rifled through his knapsack and pulled out a monocole. He exhaled on it and wiped it with his sleeve and placed it over his eye. The language morphed into one he could understand, thanks to the enchanted monocle. He read the epitaph aloud.

" _Lust for glory, sin of greed_

 _despair, agony and strife has done the deed._

 _What you hold will seal your fate_

 _And what you seek is death behind Truth's Gate"_

The breeze picked up causing a ripple across the grass.

"What do you suppose that meant?" Riza piped up after a while.

Daisuke mulled it over and over in his head. Truth's Gate? Despair, agony and strife? He had his fair share of solving riddles for sport with Bookman back at home and encountered a handful on missions too. He twisted and turned the words in his mind, pretending he was once again competing with Bookman on a fine afternoon. Daisuke traced his fingers across the engraving, as if committing the calligraphy to memory.

Truth's Gate. Death is the only constant truth in this world.

It had to be-

Daisuke hopped on top of the lid and summoned as much ice magic as he could. He braced himself and struck the lid with the hilt of his sword over and over.

… _Bang, bang, bang, CRACK_.

* * *

Riza stared blatantly as Daisuke desecrated the tomb without a second thought. If her father or uncle were here, they would promptly yank him by the hair, force them into a knee-deep bow and make him stay there for weeks on end to show remorse for the dead and grovel for pardon. But there was no randomness in Daisuke's actions. She stopped herself from moving forward and decide to leave it to Daisuke. She pulled her mask higher over the bridge of her nose, to keep it secure.

She suddenly felt a tingling at the back of her neck.

Like something was watching them. An invading feeling of _resentment, anger, grief, hate_ overwhelmed her senses, clogging her mind's eye.

 _Loathing_.

"DAISUKE WAIT!"

It was too late, just as Daisuke stuck his hand into the ice encrusted hole in the marble, a putrid green explosion filled the air.

 _Poison magic!_

"AARRRRGHHHHHH!" Daisuke howled and shrieked, the sudden outburst gripping Riza with fear. Her reflex did not betray her and she throttled forward and caught Daisuke as he fell backwards. She swept her cloak up and shielded them both from the sticky smog.

What just happened? _What the hell just happened!?_ With Daisuke, over her shoulder and his sword in her grip, she pumped as much magic in her thighs and leapt back into the trees. He clawed at his eyes and screamed and screamed. Her mask filtered the poison, but left a rancid bitter taste in her mouth

Fucking neurotoxin.

"URrrghhh!" Riza's heart clench at the immense pain Daisuke must be in. A mocking cackle echoed through the air. The tomb was booby trapped, no doubt by the tombs owner himself. Desperation coursed through her veins and redness bled into her vision. She flew through the trees, dodging every which way to put as much distance between themselves and the accursed place.

Something cold and heavy dug into her chest. She looked down.

The compass! Daisuke must have fished it out of the coffin at the very last second before being blasted in the face with the neurotoxin. He also must've still had enough thought to not let go of their prize amidst the poison magic trap. Riza felt the magic straining in her but still quickened to get Daisuke to safety. His screams deafened her left ear but she pushed on.

"We got the compass! Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here!"

Finally they made it to the hill they were originally set out from. Daisuke was all but a quivering, bloody and sweating mess. His hands raked over his eyes and one of them dropped the compass onto the grass at Riza's feet.

"I got you Daisuke, it is going to be okay" she quickly glanced over the tree tops, making sure nothing malicious, entity or not, was pursuing them. She only felt the residual tingle of _contempt_ intoxicating the air. Teleporting out of here could not guarantee Daisuke's survival.

' _Think! Think! Think! THINK DAMN IT!"_

Her father had taught her the basics of handling poison magic, but never in her wildest dreams would she have to deal with poison magic so ancient, it was beyond her reach. But she had to do something quick, his life depended on her now. She pulled out the healing scrolls and she selected the one that fitted her needs. Sweat ran down her face and she pushed her matted hair away to ease her concentration. _Damn it!_ She made a move to pull Daisuke's hands away to let her inspect the damage, but he jerked away upon reflex.

"Daisuke, stay still. I need to see so I can extract the poison"

Whimpering only met her ears. She pried his hands and the sight was etched into her memories for many years to come.

 _WHERE WERE HIS EYES?!_

* * *

Porlyusica had never been a patient woman. The world offered little to be patient for. None came instantly to mind. Stupidity, arrogance and greed however were more automatic when it came down to how the world went wrong. They permeated the whole human civilisation, stunting its progress. Humanity have yet to transcend that one simple barrier of caring only of themselves and their material needs. She could count many more despairing human traits on her ageing fingers. One thing she would gladly spend her precious time on was organising her apothecary, her home. It was her only semblance of a time gone by when magic was drawn from the earth, not those new-fangled _lacryma crystals_.

Porlyusica gently placed her dry herbs into the bamboo basket from the drying rack. The sun was strong during this time of summer and she could feel the invigorating energy rise from the magic which surrounded her leafy home. Human have also yet to develop an area in their brain dedicated to tuning in with nature. Maybe they did have at one point, but it devolved into something over-complicated. She allowed a brief smile when she placed the last of her sun-dried athelas plant into the half-filled basket. It was a bargain, these bamboo baskets were really versatile and useful, she was glad she got her hands on it from the market place on one of her rare visits. It was once every blue moon she would spot something that was definitely unusual in these parts. Usually she avoided the markets. Too novel for her standards. However on one of her rare trips, this basket caught her eye, its simple practicality out-shining all over wares.

Here she was now selecting and categorising her plants with the meticulous hands of a master herbalist. Her apothecary was usually running low these days ever since those fairy brats came back from the Grand Magic Games. They were her biggest clientele, despite much of her hissing and barking of how much she cared more about her ruined floorboards soaked in their human blood than their human wounds. They all understood that, that was just the hollering grandmother in her.

Those brats.

Thyme, rosemary, athelas, hogwarts, gillyweed, golden needle point mushrooms…

' _Hm, that shouldn't be there'_

She wiped her rosette locks from her face with her wrist and re-rolled up her sleeves, ready to store the misplaced mushrooms into its proper muslin bag.

The wind changed.

Her apothecary was never in the path of a wind tunnel.

' _An unkind visitor…'_

Warning bells went off in her head. She did not take kindly to unexpected people in her forest. She could always sense when someone stepped foot on the edge of her forest or glided within the airspace of her forest. She always sensed them. But not this time and it bothered her _very much_.

She unlocked the latch on the door, setting it ajar just slightly and observed through the gap.

 _"PLEASE HELP US!"_

Vivid honey-brown eyes pierced Porlyusica's. She threw open the door fully and the elderly mage took in the sight of a heaving girl, covered with sweat and blood, half collapsed a few metres away from her doorstep. She was gulping in huge mouthfuls of air as she clutched a boy with dear life to her chest. Thick and putrid blood oozed from the messy bandages across his eyes, making the elderly mage want to gag.

' _What on Earthland?! Is this teleportation magic..?'_

The boy with shocking white hair groaned and trembled in agony from between the girl's arms.

"That boy, he is a-"

"PLEASE!" the girl cried out.

Porlyusica was startled from the desperate begging and suddenly found herself unable to ignore it. She breathed out a sigh and spun on her heels.

"Get in here then" she went straight to where she left her medical kits. The sound of cluttering and strangled groaning filled the room as the girl struggled to get her companion through the threshold.

"Put him on that work bench over there" Porlyusica gestured sharply without looking, busy organising what equipment, spells and potions she might need.

The boy released a pitiful whimper from across the room, followed by hushed whispers from the girl.

The rosette haired sorceress strode over and dumped her medical kit beside the bleeding figure of the boy. His head snapped in her direction, but angling too much to the left from her face. He struggled to his elbows but fell back down. Porlyusica suppressed an eye-roll.

"I'm going to heal you. Calm yourself, brat"

" _Wh-where am... I...?..._ _Who…are...y-you?"_ he hissed.

"Your saviour" she replied.

The boy stilled for a moment before relenting with a loud groan, the pain in his eyes no doubt getting worse and they both knew he could barely take it. They should count their lucky stars that they crossed her path and not some other healing mage. They couldn't be in better hands. Porlyusica carefully unraveled the bandages and tsked.

 _BANG!_

She whisked around. The girl had collapsed like a sack of potatoes against the wall, legs bent to her chest and arms limp by herself. The look of total exhaustion on her blood-stricken face spoke volumes of the amount of magic she must have casted to bring herself and her companion here.

Both of them were going to be a lot of work.

* * *

 **Goodness, Porlyusica is suddenly thrusted with a huge job out of nowhere! But how kind is she for taking it on :) But fear not, all shall be explained in the next chapter about how on Earth our Eastern mages ended up there :) God damn it, Daisuke's eyes though...  
**

 **Lucy sounds like she's been having a fabulous time on her mini-holiday to Caelum Island. Too bad she _just_ missed Daisuke and Riza haha!**

 **Team Erza is still being escorted to Vana'diel to meet this mysterious Patriach of Arda haha. Understandably, they're not meshing well with the group.**

 **Hope you've all been well. Like I said earlier, I'll be continuing my _A Touch of Saffron_ soon, once I've conquered the beast called paperwork :P Until then, let me know what you and I'll see you guys in 7 days!**

 **Signing-off**

 **-TripWire-dono**


	7. Journey Bound

**Hello everyone! Now that my clinical placement is over, I will be switching back to 'A Touch of Saffron' which is my Food Wars! fanfic. Which means this story will be on hiatus. Thank you everyone who've been reading this story :)**

* * *

 _Chapter 7 - Journey Bound_

Riza perched on a high branch.

They were back on Fiore because of a botched teleportation spell.

 _A botched spell._

A botched spell that saved their _lives_.

She had to laugh at the irony of the world and then at the despair that she actually stuffed something up.

The difference in vegetation was a big give-away, but that was the least of Riza's concern. The main priority was _time_. It had been one and a half weeks since Riza thrusted the lives of herself and her companion into the wrinkled hands of an utter stranger, unknowing if that hand would toss, crush or take them in. By some miracle, fate must have been on their side when they careened onto the front yard of a pink-haired healing mage. The first six days in the shrew's care were a mystery to her. She couldn't remember a single damn thing after dumping Daisuke onto the table and falling backwards onto the adjacent wall. The last thing she saw before her eyes sealed shut was the glowing blue hands of the pink-haired healing mage.

When she came-to, the old shrew was kind enough to keep Riza abreast on what had been going on. The way she relayed the information was biting and brash, as if Riza and Daisuke were nothing but huge inconvenient, crippled mice in her soup pot. Apparently she had been so out of it, she had to be force-fed in between healing sessions with poor Daisuke. Obviously her body wasn't capable of handling any executive functions or other instinctual functions like holding a cup of water. So she ran on autopilot, prioritising all her remaining energy to restoring her magic reserves. Despite the constant huffing and puffing from the healing sorceress, she remained committed and diligent to healing both Daisuke and herself. The healing shrew was probably not inclined to venture out to dig a hole in the forest to bury two bodies, Riza guessed.

When Riza was feeling mentally stronger, she used her time to siphon Ethernano in small quantities into her starving magic reserves, a trick her father taught her. She had to be careful not to rupture her internal magic pathways, or risk losing all her magic trying to heal herself. Ethernano wasn't her ideal source for magic. _Chakra_ was, but that was only found in her home country. It would just have to do.

68%

Impatience was grating on her nerves. What had she done wrong to burn up almost all her magic store? She was eating up a ridiculous amount of time just to _rest_. She sighed and calmed herself. There was a mission partner who needed more rest than she.

Riza shook her thoughts away and threw an acorn onto the grass below from her perch on a majestic oak. The week and a half was rain-free, only the remaining warm sunshine of summer's end left soft dappling of green on the apothecary. The warmth also intensified the welcomed fragrance from the many medicinal herbs and spices, the healing mage's bread and butter. She had been carefully watching this healing shrew named Porlyusica ever since she regained her wits. She was definitely a skilled healing sorceress. Although Porlyusica looked like an ancient shrew, her dedication to the healing arts and the precision she applied to Daisuke was superb, rivalling their own family healing mage. Riza's façade sometimes wavered whenever she watched from the opposite work bench upon days on end with astounding awe. Porlyusica during her break from healing Daisuke's eyes one time had tersely tried to get Riza to explain how he got his eyes nearly minced up, but Riza would reply just as tersely:

" _I am sorry. Our business is our own"_ to which Porlyusica replied _"Suit yourself"_

Riza leapt down from her branch and landed on the grass silently and felt her breath escape from that action alone. Nope, her physical strength wasn't back yet. It was time again to check up on Daisuke. He might be awake by now and hungry. She crept across the grass to the front of Porlyusica's house. Riza removed her sandals and placed it neatly by the door, then zipped her way to Daisuke's room. He looked like he had a fitful sleep.

Seeing his bandaged face again reminded the young girl of their sudden drop-in on Porlyusica's property. She must have done a hell lot of prodding and probing when diagnosing Daisuke's injury. It was possible that she might even have discovered he was a _drachen_ slayer.

' _I wonder…'_

Given the level of magic emanating from Porylusica, maybe she was capable of penetrating Daisuke's, already compromised, cloaking spell and had discovered he was a _drachen_ slayer upon first glance. The only other being who was able to do that…

… was the fire _drachen_ slayer.

It must have been a fluke. A _massive_ fluke.

The thought of him sent her reeling back through her memories.

It was only one encounter, but it branded into her brain. She didn't like the way he looked at her _one bit_. It breached her comfort zone unlike anything before. None had ever looked upon her with those eyes. Strangers usually glared, threw curious glances, stared suspiciously or even dubiously. If any dared to leer and confront her, he would soon be known as The Blind Eunuch. With _him_ , it was keenness, unmasked curiosity and piercing wonder. The most horrible combination! It affected her… in a squirming and icky way. She could still remember feeling his molten energy raging wildly against her when she had him pinned, obviously escalated from her surprise ambush. The memory made her skin prickle.

Seeing his face morph from that _look_ into ferocity and anger had made her stomach churn with the same excitement she felt when sparring with a high ranking mage in the family, however the mild discomfort he instilled in her from his reptilian orbs refused to disappear. This was creating an emotional dissonance that tugged at her insides, leaving her with a mental fit. Images of that fire _drachen_ slayer began permeating her thoughts in ways she didn't think possible. Salmon pink hair, a young and roguish face, pupil-slit eyes, medium build and a fighter's body with defined and hard muscles. Nothing special about that. She had seen that type of specimen many times... _when tasked to slit their throats in the dead of night_. It was the combination of raw magic energy and crass fighting spirit that captured her attention. Riza felt her face heat up and so tugged her mask up over her face again, her safety zone. Her thoughts continued to re-play their small fight back at Fairy Tail before she could stop herself. It was so different from her usual enemies. His fighting moves were unrefined and clumsy matching his own uncontrolled _drachen_ slayer magic. Looking at the loose way he handled his magic, he would be one of those who created a lot of ruckus.

' _Definitely an undesirable quality'_ , Riza decided.

Daisuke spluttered a reflexive cough, snapping her back to the present. She quickly plucked a damp towel from the bedside water bowl and gently patted away the beading sweat from his forehead, being careful not to dampen the bandages. His breath was still ragged as he began to settle back down. She carefully prodded his magic with her own. It felt as limp as a broken bird's wing. Porlyusica had already informed her that the chances of Daisuke getting his vision back was slim to none. Not only were the wounds extensive, but it was laced with premordial dark magic, something she hadn't encountered.

' _He may never see again…'_ She felt sick.

"Riza _…"_

He was awake!

"I'm here" She knelt down and grasped his hand. His grip was weak.

" _How… how did we get h-here?"_

Riza quirked a corner of her lips up into a dry smirk. Yes. How _exactly_ did they get here? Riza had thought about it for sometime. Her spell had over-shot them back to the peninsula. Simple as that. Except technically, it wasn't that simple. Not by a mile, more like a couple of hundred, because it was _impossible_ with her skill level. They had already agreed once they stepped foot on Aria Port on Caelum Island that they would teleport to the metropolitan if there was an emergency. They both knew only Riza out of the two was capable of teleporting that distance. But how in the heck did she jump continents while carrying another bloody person! It muddled with her brain. As far as she knew, there was only one other mage in her guild that was capable of teleporting from all corners of the world and he was long dead. If she even attempted that, her magic reserves would have depleted hundreds of times over since teleportation magic required huge amounts of magic in the first place. Now that she thought about it, by all rights, she should have died from this single trip! But here she and Daisuke was, still alive. The thought scared her. If she was incapable of this, something else must have played a part…

"I... am not entirely sure" Riza gave her best answer.

The moments before teleportation was _vivid_. She remembered with horrific clarity that her friend was bleeding out, tainted by evil magic. The spine-chilling cackling of the wind forced itself into Riza's ears, it breathed someone else's contempt, spite and rage into her body. It forced more adrenaline into her muscles.

Everything was running through her head.

She was panicking.

She had to get Daisuke to safety.

 _Somebody_ had to save Daisuke.

' _Yes'_

That was it.

Riza stilled. The sound of Daisuke's breathing started blending into the background as the fog in her mind began to clear. She back-tracked. She wanted nothing more than to find somebody, not just doctors and nurses, but _capable enough_ to save him.

Just before she teleported.

 _Her greatest desire at that very point in time…_

Impossible.

"Do not worry, we will make it out of here. Stay strong" she said with all her conviction.

Daisuke didn't seem to hear Riza, as his hand began to shake and his lips pulled over his sharp teeth.

"I can't… I c-can't see... I-I can't see _anything_ " he seethed.

It made her heart wrench. What was she going to tell their family now? How would The Patriarch react to this? Daisuke's trembling stopped and his breath evened out again. He slowly turned his bandage-wrapped eyes towards her.

"Riza… is the Danes Compass..?"

"Aye, I have it secured" she tapped against the heavy magical artifact through the skin of her pouch.

* * *

Teleportation Magic and a compass. How odd indeed. The children were so naïve to think she wouldn't find out about what secrets they carried, under her own roof, in her own forest? She had allowed them the privacy they needed even though she didn't like having humans in her home, _especially_ those she didn't trust. They weren't just any mages, they were strange ones that held no discernible identity or any guild marks. Whatever those brats got caught in involved evil primordial magic. Magic that should not even exist anymore.

She wasn't obligated to help anyone, so why? The answer was simple. She was compelled to.

Porlyusica flipped through more pages in her medical text. Nerve poisoning was rare. It almost completely destroyed the nerves in the boy's eyes and luckily she intervened before it spread to his brain. She was able to weave together as many nerves as she could and dispel at least some of the premordial magic, but only time could tell if her efforts showed.

There was only one being in history capable of using such strong poison magic.

One of the founding members of the Six Path Warlocks.

The Six Path Warlocks were said to be the founding fathers of Magic. Together they were the One Source that all legends of magic took root. As the legends told, the brethren were ripped apart from betrayal and revenge and so the close-knit band of mages were no more, only a former shadow imprinted in the history of time.

She sighed and laced her fingers beneath her chin. The boy mentioned a compass. Who on Earthland would risk their lives in the face of deadly primordial magic to 'secure' a compass? It must've had something to do with the 'Six Path Warlocks'. They were the forefathers of magic use. Porlyusica wasn't specialised in magic lore. She had no use for it. But what she did know was that each of the legendary Warlocks had a relic. Very powerful artifacts that could possibly grant the user immeasurable power. Was it possible that these _children_ got their hands on one of those relics?

Some puzzle pieces were slotting together well enough, but the picture was still hazy.

She heard footsteps behind her.

"I've had another patient with a missing eye. I recreated the flesh and she regained her sight. But she could only cry with one eye. It had other perks like being impervious to stone eye magic and illusion magic" Porlyusica said without looking behind her.

"…"

She sighed and decided to turn around in her chair, her posture straight and controlled.

"I know you brats aren't willing to say anything, even though you should. But I must tell you that whatever you are meddling with is dangerous. Premordial magic? What on God's green Earthland possessed you to think you could go up against that?"

"…"

"It's like talking to a wall with you" said Porlyusica.

"Daisuke is strong. He will get his sight back"

"You are more optimistic than I am, brat"

The girl sat on the chair beside Porlyusica. She brought out a tiny tin canister from her pouch, which was never unstrapped since she arrived a week and a half ago and drank from it. Her eyes were distant and clouded.

"Where do you hail from?" asked Porlyusica. As much as she loved silence, this one was smothering.

"Vana'diel" said the girl.

The healing sorceress hummed in understanding. No wonder why this girl had a strong melodious intonation imbedded in her accent. She came from a far-away land. Her mastery of the Fiorean language was pretty good though, it wasn't too butchered.

She had met a mage once before who claimed he was from Vana'diel. It was known as 'The Land of Gods' from the East in that mage's native tongue. She allowed her mind to drift back decades to when she first met that mage. He looked like a vagabond on the road who was just innocently passing through Magnolia. She had forgotten his name, but she did remember he was a powerful wizard. Her memory was still hazy though.

"Hmph. Eastern mages don't come around to these parts. What brought you here?"

"Business" said Riza.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and capped the canister before depositing it back into her pouch "I do not have anything to offer you in payment for all you have done for Daisuke" she said.

Porlyusica frowned when she saw an abnormal looking tattoo at the back of the girl's hands. It was definitely a magic related design. Circular shape with ancient script outlining it and triangles inverted against each other. A small flame adorned the tip of the triangle closest to the knuckles. It looked agonisingly familiar but for the life of her she could not put her finger in it. Just who were these kids? She could bargain for answers, but that raised the risk of being further dragged into their affairs and that would be a waste of her time.

If it was related to more of this evil primordial magic, she didn't want to know.

"Just get out of my house as soon as your friend starts walking" Porlyusica said curtly, diverting her eyes back to her book. "I don't like humans"

"Eh… Why not? Are you not human too?"

"They are destructive and vile" Porlyusica said with absolute conviction, purposely side-stepping her second question. It wasn't anyone's business. She thought she saw Riza frown but was relieved she didn't pursue the topic.

"Of course. We will not inconvenience you any further" said Riza. She got up and bowed in a perfect perpendicular fashion at Porlyusica. She took her seat again and proceeded to examine more of the apothecary interiors, much in the same way she did on the first day she grew out of her vegetative state, Porlyusica noticed.

In Porlyusica's eyes, Riza was a small and lithe human. Her muscles were taut and looked like it was trained for speed and agility over strength.

Daisuke and Riza.

Something told her that this won't be the last time she will see them, much to her dismay. Wasn't that always the way.

She could also sense a mix unfamiliar magic from her. It was probably a different form of Ethernano. All forms of magic energy had the same foundations: _Ethernano,_ given birth by the Six Path Warlocks. Over time, Ethernano diverged into different forms, based on how it was moulded by the gifted individual and so were passed on through generations, across time and history. Fiore, amongst other neighbouring countries, continued to use the pure form, Ethernano, as the foundation for all magic.

"So, teleportation magic. Not often you see that sort of thing. How did you come to learn that?" asked Porlyusica, turning her sharp eyes back to her.

Riza thought for a moment.

"It is a spell passed down from my father and my father's father. We also call it _shunshin._ It is magic born from the East, using the equivalent of your _Ethernano,_ which we call _Chakra_ "

Porlyusica hummed in reply

' _Hmm, so she does use a divergent form of Ethernano'_

"There are different forms of magic energy in this world. I've learned about it in the past, but unfortunately didn't have the privilege to harness any of it except Ethernano. Your brand of magic must be very different to the Mages of the West"

"I suppose so, but honestly I do not think it is all that different"

Porlyusica continued to stare at the girl. Yep she was definitely human, but the boy she could tell was not. Yes, she sensed dragon slayer magic from him however it was expertly masked, impenetrable to weaker mages but not to her. It was probably casted by the boy himself. However it wasn't the dragon slayer magic that made him seem…

 _Wrong._

"Your friend doesn't exactly have the same _presence_ as the rest of the humans I've had the misfortune of coming across"

"Oh. He is a _drachen_ slayer"

"That's not what I meant"

Riza's face went blank as a slate.

Porlyusica tsked. She got the message loud and clear. The conversation was over.

"Suit yourself. You, missy are going to earn your keep until I can get rid of you two. So make yourself useful by doing some chores around here!" Porlyusica stood up and went over to the bundles of dried herbs. "Start over here. Strip the leaves and but them into separate jars"

Riza quickly squeaked a 'Yes ma'am'.

* * *

Riza had been flat out earning hers and Daisuke's keep. Another week had passed.

The season was starting to change, the leaves started to brown and fall.

Riza finished chopping wood for Porlyusica and slammed the axe back into the tree stump. She looked up and saw the faintest of stars starting to dot the sky. Evening was rolling in. She wiped the sweat from her brow and stretched her arms high above her head, feeling the chill breeze dance across her skin. She unwrapped her halter top from her neck and tied it around her waist, leaving her chest bandages exposed instead. She gathered the wood and hauled it into the crate just beside the back door. Daisuke was at the stage of sitting up in bed now. The worry began to eat at her insides when he wasn't recovering as fast as she expected. Riza had gone to see Daisuke yesterday, but was quickly ushered away by Porlyusica so she could change his bandages and check his eyes, leaving her to wait alone in the apothecary. When she finally emerged, Riza immediately stood up awaiting some news, but Porlyusica only shook her head. She walked away leaving the door open for Riza to rush in and sit with Daisuke for the rest of the afternoon.

Prognosis wasn't looking good.

"I am bringing in some wood for the fireplace!" Riza called through the apothecary.

"You might as well light it while you're at it" said Porlyusica from her desk.

Riza did as she was told. Porlyusica had been pre-occupied at the desk for the majority of the afternoon, swirling test tubes around and placing them in holders. She reached over and adjusted a bunsen burner, waiting for the liquid inside the conical flask above it to simmer and bubble gently. Obviously she was busy.

The young mage threw the wood in and snapped her fingers, instantly lighting a blazing fire and then replacing the grate. Unknown to her, Porlyusica was watching.

"You're the only mage I know who doesn't scream out the spell" she said with a wry chuckle.

Riza rubbed her hair sheepishly. "Haha, my magic does not always require it. I have known many others who love to shout it to the the heavens"

"Tell me about your magic"

Riza was taken aback by the startling gentleness in her voice. It lost the gruff and harsh tone and it felt as if it was meant to be a genuine request rather than a direct order.

"Well I use two different magic. One is called Ninjutsu from my father's side and the other is Alchemy from my mother's side. I prefer to use Alchemy. Have you heard of them?"

"Alchemy, yes, but for Ninjutsu, I haven't. What is that?" asked Porlyusica not looking up from her many test tubes.

" _Ninjutsu_ is just how we call Eastern Magic. It is a mix of offensive and defensive spells designed for combat and espionage. It is not all different from Western Magic. I use Alchemy primarily because that was the first magic I learnt. My grandfather from my mother's side taught me Fire Alchemy" beamed Riza, sitting on a stool.

"I see" Porlyusica looked like she was still concentrating on whatever medicinal experiments she was concocting, even noting some things down as she inspected each test tube into her notebook.

"My magic affinity is fire" Riza continued "I am not as close to my father. He is normally out on a lot of jobs. He taught me basic Ninjutsu as well as fire Ninjutsu"

"It's not everyday you see a mage who uses more than one type of magic" commented Porlyusica.

"Yes, you are right. Most of us are loyal to one type of magic" Riza helped herself to a plate of dried fruits on the work bench. The said sorceress sighed and closed her notebook and turned off the bunsen burner.

"And who is this ' _us'_?" asked Porlyusica as she moved about the apothecary. The room was filled to the brim with the comforting warmth from the furnace. The sound of crackling fire was soothing to her Riza's ears, coupled with faint rustle of leaves in the evening breeze.

"Daisuke and I are part of a guild. A really big guild in Vana'diel. Within the guild we are split into different _families,_ like branches of a tree _._ Each family uses different magic. There is Ninjutsu and Alchemy as I have mentioned before. There is also Purifying Magic, Knight Magic, Take-over Magic and _Drachen_ Slayer Magic" Riza counted them off on her fingers. "Oh! We also have a group who uses Spiritual magic, but they come and go"

"Six different types is it?" said Porlyusica.

"Oh, we have some mages with standalone magic that do not belong in a specific group too. For example we have one Summoner Spirit Mage. They often stay in the main branch of the guild. I have mixed magic, so I stay with the main branch too. There are many others dotted around the main branch"

Porlyusica looked thoughtful for a moment, probably processing all this new information.

"The boy would belong to the the Dragon Slayer… family. Correct?"

"Oh, specifically for them we call it a Nest. They answer to the _Drake,_ which is the head dragon" said Riza.

"A nest? How many Dragon Slayers do you people have, child?"

"We have only three"

Porlyusica gave a soft snort after raising her eyebrows. "What about your guild master?"

"Our Patriarch? He uses fire magic. Just pure fire magic" said Riza. Her eyes held a glimmer in them as she thought about her guild, her _family_.

"Pure fire magic?" Porlyusica confirmed.

"Yes. Pure fire magic"

Porlyusica turned away and gazed out the window in deep thought. Riza waited patiently, not wanting to overload her with too much information. She wondered what her family was up to. Her younger brother was probably being a nuisance to the other mages. Her cousins were probably out on jobs. Her father was probably still on his mission-marathon. She missed her family.

Then she thought about her Patriarch. She drew a blank at that. He was always in a perpetual state of 'busy', scarcely having time to mingle with his mages in the Main Branch.

Even with his own daughter.

Now that she thought about, she barely knew about her Patriarch's magic. She just knew it was Fire Magic.

' _Hmm he doesn't seem to specialise in a particular area of fire magic. But then again, saying that he just used pure fire magic could be the same as saying he was specialised in_ all areas _of fire magic. At least that is all I can speculate_. _It's so pitiful that I know so little about my Patriarch…'_ she mused.

"How does your guild work, having different types of magic reserved in specific groups?" asked Porlyusica.

Riza snapped out of her thoughts "We often complete tasks that are suited to each families' abilities. We receive jobs from our Family Head, or Drake. Or direct orders from our Patriarch on special occasions. Of course that is is only on top of choosing our own jobs to make a living"

A thudding sound interrupted the conversation and both mages turned their heads to the hall entrance. It was Daisuke, leaning heavily against the door frame, his silver brows screwed together, dipping into a serious frown and head lolled down slightly. He had dragged himself out of bed for heavens knew what reason against all medical advice. His hair matted to his forehead. He was still weakened from the nerve toxin, barely holding himself up. His lips were cracked and dry, slightly parted to draw in gulps of air as he panted.

 _"R-Riza… what the hell are you doing?"_

She gasped. He had torn off the bandages! His eyes were looking at their general direction but were unfocused, staring but not really looking. There were jagged scars running along his temples straight across the eyes and on the higher bridge of his nose.

His eyes were a dull milky green.

"Daisuke! Get back to bed, you are not fully healed"

 _"Tch… I hope y-you are not… telling her... un-unnecessary things"_ He growled.

Riza was about to grab his shoulders and push him back to his room and tell him that she wasn't compromising anything, but Porlyusica beat her to it. She held a very, _very_ unimpressed look. She was at his side in a flash, her arms akimbo as she growled her own growl at Daisuke, her hair now a fiery pink and her magic aura whiplashing about at the audacity of the young _drachen_ slayer tearing his bandages off.

"You ungrateful brat! What do you think you are doing out of bed? Don't make things worse otherwise everything I have done thus far will be for naught. Now you've set your healing back by God knows how many weeks! I need to bandage you up again and if you think of even touching it, I'll kick you out."

Daisuke gave an annoyed harrumph and an 'I'm fine' before being frogmarched back into his room.

Riza sat alone with her thoughts. Their mission was still ongoing. She had to remember that. She fingered the lacry-mirror-com in her pouch.

* * *

"Wow…" Erza sat on her horse gazing at the empty and soulless eyes of the Leviathan high above her head. It was already dead. Its bones were fossilised and if she had to guess, it had died millions of years ago. She didn't even know what creature it was, she had to rely on Commander Erwin's explanation of its name. It was probably the size of a whale or even bigger. But it didn't look like a whale, maybe a prehistoric version of it, when all animals shared the same reptilian qualities and features. Its maw was poised open with teeth in its full integrity, as if ready to snap and swallow the company whole. The sheer size of it made her skin prickle in delight and she felt a sudden privilege to be standing in front of a once fearsome and majestic creature of epic proportions. Erza made sure she drank up the site to retell the story when she got home.

The sound of gushing water filled the air, but Erza was still enthralled by the fossil. Its bones remained intact, sunk into a land-bridge, formed by millions of year of erosion from the large rushing river beneath it. The land bridge was held intact by the bones of the Leviathen, like deep plant roots, binding loose soil together. It revealed only the spine, neck head and bone flippers protruding out. However Erza could still see the overall shape. It was long, fat and serpentine, the rest of the Leviathan's body curved around, almost as if doing a turn as it would when swimming through the great big ocean. This place they were standing at must have been ocean deep millions of years ago! Erza's excitement grew. It was fossilised in mid swim from the way it was positioned imbedded in the rock, giving the appearance that it could break free at the drop of a hat and attack.

"So this is the passageway into Vana'diel" said Gray.

Gray wasn't looking at the Leviathan anymore, but jerked his chin to a set of ancient wooden stairs built on stilts that crossed from where they were to the other side where the Leviathan's bone laid to rest. The cliff on the other side was much higher, and the land bridge didn't connect with their side properly, ending just on the edge, thus warranting stairs. It obscured any view Erza had beyond the creature's bones.

Erza turned to the sound of whinnying horses as Corporal Levi led the company towards it. The stairs weren't built for horses to cross, but they were climbing the wooden stairs anyway. Erza cringed at the thought of the stairs collapsing under the excruciating weight of the company, but the company remained unconcerned of that potential danger. If they crossed it to get to Fiore in the first place with no problems at all, then that would explain it. The stairs stopped at two different platforms, before taking a different direction as it wound its way up, up and higher, reaching the tail end of the Leviathan.

She prayed the ancient stairs held.

Erza gently tugged the reins of her horse to follow the company. This was the very edge of the world they knew. The massive river was the only tangible barrier separating the Peninsula from the unknown land of Vana'diel and the bone riddled land bridge and stairs was their only connection. The stark difference in the landscape was so obvious, the lush green of Pergrande Kingdom and then a huge fossilised monster stuck in a rock, the image of dereliction. Even nature itself made a clear distinction between the world of the West and East.

Her horse slowly climbed the stairs, being one of the last of the company. She turned to Corporal Levi who had opted to be the tail end to make sure everyone crossed safely.

"Once we step onto the other side, what's going to happen?" she asked.

"You will be at the mercy of Vana'diel's jurisdiction" he replied.

"What does that entail?"

"One thing only. Survival of the fittest"

"Uh huh…" Erza murmured.

If anything, the trip to cross the whole Peninsula had really put them to the test on how to be extra fit for surviving the company's travelling style. Erza had never trekked across the lands so much in her life.

"How did you manage to cross the whole Western Peninsula to the Magical Library in only a week?" asked Erza.

"What do you mean?" asked Levi.

"It took us about four weeks to get this far which is amazing in itself, as I've never travelled this fast in all my career as a mage" replied Erza.

Levi and Erza made it to the other side with the rest of the company. All that lay in front of them was a beaten and harsh terrain. The ground beneath them was extremely rocky, but the horses were able to somehow trot over it well enough. She now feared one of the trusty steed would slip and break their ankles. Erza took a fleeting look over the other side where the West was.

"We were temporarily stationed in the country of Bellum"

Erza didn't know a great deal about other countries apart from Fiore, but if she remembered analysing Levy's map correctly, Bellum was located east of the country called Desierto, on the eastern shore of the large lake separating it from Desierto and Joya.

"What were you doing there?" asked Erza.

"None of your business" he replied instantly.

Erza gave up and decided to leave him alone. He was clearly in no mood to talk. She decided to reflect back on how they managed to cross so many countries in an impossibly short amount of time. Travelling with these people was absolutely back-breaking. They never stopped at any towns, villages or cities. They completely stayed away from anywhere inhabited by humans and remained only on the road, over fields, maintain paths, basically anywhere with no people. They assembled and disassembled camp very quickly and efficiently and of course Team Fairy Tail would assist. She made sure. They did promise to bring them back to Vana'diel safely after all.

They also pushed their horses very hard. They would all gallop for long periods of times and took minimal breaks, stopping only to water and feed their horses. Every so often they took the opportunity to send two or three soldiers to go to the nearest town to get supplies and come back immediately when needed. Gray and Natsu were the epitome of complaints for most of the journey, getting saddle sores so easily. Even she herself was beginning to get really sore from horse riding. At one point she was mental enough to entertain the idea of dashing to Vana'diel the rest of the way.

What was the strangest thing was that they _changed horses_ in every country. None of the horses were theirs to begin with. Commander Erwin explained that each country had horses that were suited to their terrain. That was excellent thinking, she thought. That way, they hardly dropped speed and minimised issues. When they crossed the borders to new countries, they would promptly detach the reins, saddles, bridles and stirrups and freed the horses. It was their belief that horses will always find their way back home, so they didn't worry. Wendy was most grateful for that. Erwin and Levi seemed to always know exactly where the nearest horse ranch was. These people utilised horses as their main transportation, so it was most likely they had a sticker for every horse ranch on their maps. They bought as many horses as they needed from the horse breeder who were ecstatic to sell them his strongest and best horses for a ridiculous amount of money. It was like Commander Erwin had unlimited funds for horses.

Her team managed to also socialise with the soldiers. Wendy made fast friends with two girls named Sascha Blaus and Krista Lenz. Gray and Natsu didn't talk much except with Jean Kirstein who looked after the wagon, Connie Springer and Armin Arlert. Erza tried to strike a conversation with Mikasa Ackerman to make things less awkward, but that didn't turn out well. So she settled to with talking with Eren Jaeger which was much better.

Erza was a little disappointed that they didn't get to do any sight-seeing in all those countries. She, Gray, Natsu, Wendy and Charles could do with a bit of a reprieve. Although Corporal Levi's idea of a reprieve was a thirty-seconds toilet break. This family was pretty dead-set on getting back to their home country.

About an hour later, the rocky terrain become smoother. There were still tall jagged rocks on either side of them making it impossible to see anything beyond their path. But sure enough, over the heads of her team and the other riders, she saw-

 _Green_

Green grass. She loved it! Just ahead were green pastures with lush, tall wild grass. She welcomed the huge breeze, her scarlet hair flying high into the air. She closed her eyes in bliss. Vana'diel wasn't going to be as dismal as she thought.

"Whoo! Finally we're in Vana'diel!" She heard Natsu yell.

"Not bad. It's pretty idyllic" commented Gray.

"This is only the border, we still have a few days' ride to the Main Branch" said Erwin. "But yes, it is nice to be home again"

The pastures rose and dipped to make little valleys and crests. There were numerous boulders littering the pastures, with grass slowly over taking them.

Suddenly the horses stopped and released a strange high pitch whinny followed by nickering, tossing their heads and refused to take another step despite the soldiers digging their heels into their sides.

' _They're spooked about something'_ thought Erza.

"What's wrong?" asked Wendy.

"I'm not sure" replied Gray. "I can't get these damn horses to move properly" he had a hard time making his horse stop trotting in circles.

"Come on you stupid horse!" Natsu yelled.

"Stop it, you're going to make him buck" Armin tried to calm Natsu down.

They were definitely spooked about something.

"There's a foul smell in the winds" commented Sascha. She dismounted and ran a few metres ahead. She was a strange girl in Erza's eyes. She scanned the pasture and the boulders.

Sascha jumped up like a weasel and turned to face the company.

"WARGS!"

' _What?!'_ Erza was confused.

In that moment a pack of large, ferocious wolves leapt out from behind the distant boulders. They were twice as big as the ordinary wolves. Almost big enough to ride on! They howled and growled, sending chills down Erza's spines. They ran full speed in their direction down the hills of the pasture, sharp teeth bared and eyes hungry.

"Get ready everyone! It's a Warg ambush!" commanded Erwin.

The company pulled out their blade with a resounding _shing_ , as if they were familiar with this kind of attack.

"Oh hell yeah! Things just got better" before she knew it, Natsu was running full speed at the pack of hungry wolves.

"Damn it! _The grass!_ He's going to turn the whole place into ash!" yelled Jean.

"HOLD UP NATSU!" Yelled Erza. "Gray! Make sure you stay by Natsu's side!" she ordered.

"Fine!"

"Requip! Flight Armour!" In a burst of magic, Erza changed into her specialised armour designed for speed. Cheetah's print and fur lined her armour. She could already feel magic pumping through her already. The only way for her to take down many wargs, or whatever the hell they were, was to match them at their speed. She gripped her pair of short-swords which came with the armour and dashed ahead, targeting the closest warg.

" _CHARGE!"_

* * *

 **Daisuke! Oh noooooo :( Well looks like Daisuke and Riza will be staying put for a while.  
**

 **Team Erza is on their way to Vana'diel now! They will get to meet this 'Patriarch' we've been hearing from time to time.**

 **Once again, thanks for reading this story! It will be going into hiatus now while I concentrate on my other fanfic.**

 **Until next time, keep safe and healthy. Let me know what you think of this chapter and I will see you... whenever!**

 **Signing off**

 **-TripWire-dono**


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